Chosen
by glaurificus
Summary: Slayers. Hogwart's. The Gin and Tonic. What more could you ask for? Double Agents? Draco and Harry Slash? You got it! Snape and Buffy getting together? Your wish is my command! In this corna: CHAPTER 16!
1. This is Where We Come In

Title: Chosen

Author: Glaurificus

Rating: PG-13, but it may or may not go up.

Disclaimer: Don't sue unless you want my textbooks. And I need those!

Summary: Slayers are awakening everywhere, including Hogwart's. Buffy and the Scoobies floo to England, but they aren't the only ones with business in the country...

"So here's where you make a choice.

What if you could have that power?"

"From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer; every girl who could have the power, will have the power; who can stand up, will stand up."

- Buffy

            "What do you mean, Slayer-free?" asked Buffy, incredulously. "Giles, this is LA. You know, 3 million people at a Bloomy's sale alone?" She crossed her arms and waited for her former Watcher to explain.

            Giles removed his glasses (the 25th time that hour) and began cleaning them with the hem of his shirt. "I'm sorry, Buffy, but it seems that you were not only 'Miss Sunnydale' in the Slayer pageant" - the Watcher grimaced at his own choice of words - "But you appear to also be Miss Los Angeles." He sighed, and returned his glasses to their perch atop his nose. 

            It had been a week since the Scoobies and the gang of potentials has triumphed over the First Evil by unleashing the power of the Slayer's Scythe. After that, they had traveled from Sunnydale (or what was left of it) to Los Angeles, where they began searching for freshly awakened Slayers. So far, they had turned up nothing. 

Currently, what remained of the core effort (Buffy, Willow, Giles, Xander, Kennedy, and Andrew) were sitting in a cheap motel room, planning the gang's next step.

            "It's just so hard to believe, what we did." Andrew piped up. "I mean, it's like the time in the first X-Men movie where Magneto was using Rogue to make all those people into mutants, except, you know, we didn't force this on them because we have some grudge against huma - "

            Xander held up a hand in front of Andrew's mouth. "So what does this mean?" he asked, stifling a sly smile at Andrew's attempts to escape his silencer by licking the other man's hand. "I hate to bring up unpleasant singing memories, but where do we go from here?" He and the rest of the gang looked around the room, mildly wondering if the response was going to be in tune.

            Giles sighed again and barely resisted the urge to clean his glasses for the 26th time. "I don't know." he said tiredly. "I guess the best we can do is get some sleep." He motioned to the digital clock behind him. "It's certainly past a few of our bedtimes." he yawned. "Mine included." 

            The gang grumbled, but ultimately headed off to their respective rooms. The Rancho Resorto Roadside Inn ("More like 'Roach-side' Dawn had groaned after touring her room) was not a place that anyone had wanted to call home, but after 10 hours of driving a school bus, Principal Wood had insisted that he had the right to call an all-stop for the night. He and Faith were in their shared room ("Cleaning his wounds" Faith had said with a wink) while Dawn and the new-Slayers were pairing off into roommates for the night.

            Buffy, however, was still nowhere near calm enough to sleep. "You know what guys?" she said suddenly. "I'm going to go patrol." The gang looked at her curiously, making Buffy shift nervously. "I just thought I'd go pick up the slack, you know, seeing as no girl around here wanted to get off her butt and take the power."

            Giles was concerned. "Buffy, you know that - " 

            "I know, I know." Buffy cut him off. "Just a little post-Apocalyptic humour." She smiled weakly. "I'll be back in 20." And with that, she turned sharply and headed out the door. 

            Willow frowned and made a decision. "You know what, patrolling sounds good right about now." she said distractedly as shed headed for the door. Predictably, Kennedy bounded right after her. 

            "You're right, honey." she said brightly. "What I need now is to get out there and just - "

            Willow shook her head. "Not what I meant, sweetie." She brushed a loose strand of hair off Kennedy's forehead and kissed it. "It was sort of code for 'Going to have a heart-to-heart with my obviously-not-okay best friend', k?"

            Kennedy opened her mouth to protest, but thought better of it. "Alright." she agreed. "But if you do end up slaying, bring me back a head?" The girls smiled at each other and Willow left. 

            "Buffy! Wait!" Willow called out to the original Slayer. "I want to talk to you."

            The figure ahead of her turned around. It was a blonde vampire, in full demon-face. "Oh, I want to talk too." she said, grinning evilly at her next meal.

            But Willow barely even stopped. "Dust." she commanded distractedly and the vamp watched in horror as a patch of dust spread out from her chest and quickly engulfed her.

            Finally, Willow caught up with her best friend. "Buffy!" 

The other girl turned around. "What is it?" she asked quickly. "Did we find someone?" She looked anxiously at the witch.

Willow frowned. "You were gone for 30 seconds. Sorry." she said. "Look, I know you're not one to want to get all touchy-feely when you're hurting, but you can talk to me." The redhead placed a gentle hand on the Slayer's shoulder. "You know that, right?"

Buffy sighed. "What's to talk about?" she asked as the two resumed the patrol. "Spike sacrificed himself to save the world. I did the same thing, once." she stared unseeingly at the ground for a moment before returning to the present. "It was noble. It saved all of our lives. Well, those of us - dammit Will!" she exclaimed, stopping and turning to face her friend. "We lost good girls in there" She looked down. "We lost some of our friends." 

Willow smiled knowingly at her friend and wrapped her arms around the troubled girl. "Shh." she said soothingly. "It's okay. We all knew what we were getting into. And you heard Andrew: Anya died saving him." The two broke apart and Willow beamed a lop-sided smile down at Buffy. "She's okay. All the girls who died in the Hellmouth - they're okay." She re-enveloped Buffy in her arms. "And Spike, he went out fighting, just like he always wanted." The girls smiled deeply. Spike had been an invaluable part of getting the Scoobies out of the Hellmouth by using an ancient amulet to destroy the First's army of Uber-vamps. 

Buffy broke away from her friend and sat on a near-by park bench. Willow followed suit. "I just feel kinda useless, you know?" she looked questioningly at her best friend. "I'm not the only Chosen One anymore. I don't have a group to lead, get kicked out of, and lead again." She smiled wanly. "So what's there for me to do now?" 

Willow sighed. "I don't know, Buff. Hey!" she exclaimed. "What if we all learn how to play guitar and form a rock band!" Buffy smiled half-heartedly. "We already have a bus. A little paint and we'd have the bitchingest ride ever!" She and Buffy shared a small laugh but soon turned serious.

"Seriously, I just wonder where I'm supposed to be now." Buffy looked plaintively at her friend. "You, if my purpose could just fall out of the sky and land on my head, I wouldn't mind." she said sarcastically.

Suddenly, a faint hooting was heard. Willow looked up. "Uh, Buff?" she said, her eyes following a particularly ungraceful owl. "I think you've got mail."

Buffy shot a quizzical look at her friend before a rather bedraggled looking owl crashed into her head. It hooted regretfully at her, and promptly passed out in her lap. She looked at her friend. "Is this where you tell me Hogwart's is real?" she joked, poking the bird in the side to no response.

Willow nodded. "Actually, yeah." Buffy's head shot up. "Minerva told me that Dumbledore decided to keep it secret by convincing everyone it's a fairy tale. Apparently  he had a terrible time convincing the witch to do it - she thought it was too risky, but Dumbledore kept at her and finally, after about 60 years of gentle persuasion, she wrote the whole story." She smiled fondly at the memory of the kindly old wizard and his never-ending supply of candy. 

Buffy, however, was having a little bit more trouble with the situation. "Why didn't you tell us?" she questioned her friend. "Oh I get it. Some sort of magick secrecy thing, like if you told us, you'd sprout boils on your face that said 'snitch' or something." 

Willow laughed. "No no. Nothing like that. Dumbledore's just this way of convincing people to do things. But don't get me wrong! He's the kindest, most powerful white wizard I've ever met. He's like 150 years old! And he has this beard! And - oh Buffy - you should read the books he has in his personal library  and - and I'm in junior year again, aren't I?" she finished sheepishly.

Buffy smiled deeply. "Nah, it's good to hear you get so excited again." She patted her friend on the arm. "Now, can you tell me what the hell an owl is doing in my lap or do I have to guess for myself?" 

Willow rolled her eyes. "It looks like a messenger owl. See? Message on his leg." Willow took the owl and unrolled the tiny piece of parchment. "Letter size." she commanded the paper, and Buffy watched, amazed, as the paper grew into a normal sized piece of paper. 

"Wow. Check you out with the god-like powers." the Slayer quipped. "So what does it say?"

After a moment of scanning the letter, Willow looked up at Buffy, eyes wide. "I think you got your wish."


	2. Midnight in the Garden of Evil

Eeep! I forgot to throw myself at everyone's feet and beg for reviews, so here it goes: Please review! Please!

Now, on with the story....

The night was black as ink, with neither stars nor moon to lighten it. There was a garden straight ahead of her, and she could already hear the soft murmur of scheming voices; one was strong and commanding, and the other was weak and submissive. This excited her. If there was one thing in the world she loved, it was power; having it, using it, watching others as they bent to it.

Silently, she floated across the hill and entered the shrubbery. It would have been a peaceful setting if not for the terrible feeling of evil that emanated from the tall man in the centre of the garden. She edged closer, unsure if they could hear her. She most definitely wanted to hear them, but was undecided as to their characters.

"So you say there were four of them?" Voldemort snapped. 

Pettigrew trembled in front of his master and nodded mutely. He had come as soon as he had heard. Four people Flooing in from America was an unusual event, one that he had been sure his Master would have wanted to know about.

Voldemort took to pacing in front of the shaking form of his servant. The information was remarkable and yet not. Wizard's often came from far distances (he himself had once Apparated to China) but they hardly ever came from America. There had been a huge rift in the wizarding community during the Second World War about the role of magic folk in Muggle affairs. British wizards had wanted nothing to do with it, but the Americans had pressed for full involvement, some even wanted to reveal their secret world to the Muggles. The British wizards had eventually convinced the Americans to maintain the code of secrecy, but the two countries had been on rather cool terms ever since.

"Keep an eye out for them." he commanded Pettigrew. "I want to know what Americans are doing at Hogwarts. They don't usually accept transfers from there, so Dumbledore must have a particular need for them." He continued pacing, so intent on deciphering Dumbledore's intent that he almost didn't register the new presence. He whipped around, wand in hand, and leveled it at the woman standing before him. Pettigrew did the same.

"What a lovely night." Drusilla said dreamily. "The moon has been sharing her secrets with me." she whispered conspiratorially. She traced a finger along the hedge she was standing by and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. Suddenly, she turned her attention back to them, eyes flashing. "She's here. All over my precious wormy and now he burns for her." She sobbed out the last part, oblivious to the looks Pettigrew and Voldemort were exchanging. No one had ever disturbed one of his meetings, thanks largely to the extremely painful barrier spells he erected around all of his meeting places.

Drusilla turned abruptly from her sobbing at the hedge and walked up to Voldemort, her face a mix of awe and glee. "I can feel your power, milord." she said, tremulous excitement in her voice. "She won't be able to resist you." She breathed a pleasured sigh. "She's always alone - can't get her head out of the past." Dru continued. She began humming off-key and swinging her hips.

The Dark Lord sighed, as if bored. "Avada Kedavra." Voldemort said nonchalantly, and watched with a detached satisfaction as a bright green light struck Drusilla and knocked her several feet across the grass. 

Voldemort turned back to a terrified Pettigrew. "That is how you deal with outsiders, Wormtail." he said, satisfied. However, Pettigrew didn't respond. Instead, he looked past his Master's fluttering robe to Drusilla, who was struggling to her feet. Voldemort whirled around, snarling.

Dru walked back towards them, looking very offended. "Now that wasn't very nice." she scolded. "Mummy only whips Miss Edith when she's bad. Mummy only wanted to tell you about her." Dru said, pouting. 

Voldemort and Pettigrew stood, dumbstruck. No one (save Harry Potter) had ever survived a direct hit with a killing curse. Suddenly, it came to the Dark Lord. "You're a vampire, aren't you?" he asked silkily. Dru nodded proudly. Voldemort smiled maliciously. "But I've never seen a vampire who had the Sight before." he marveled. He stroked her hair with one of his long, scaly fingers, causing Dru to moan. 

Suddenly, his hand gripped tightly around her throat. Dru's eyes popped open and Voldemort sneered. "You will tell me everything I want to know, or my wand will find a home through your heart." he whispered harshly. Dru nodded, her eyes wide with an odd mix of fear and desire. Voldemort released his grip and shoved Dru backwards. 

"I know who has your secret." she said hoarsely as she got back up. She brushed a dead lead off the hem of her gown, and busied herself by pulling imaginary threads from her outfit

Voldemort furrowed his brow. "Who? What secret?" he barked. 

A slow, sly smile spread across Dru's face. "How quickly they forget, men do. Five years or a hundred, they're still the same." She laughed at her own joke and leaned into whisper in Voldemort's ear. "The book."

Voldemort's red eyes widened before languidly closing. "Virginia." he breathed. 

Dru nodded and smiled. 

Suddenly, Voldemort turned to Pettigrew, who was still staring at Drusilla. "Go, and find the diary. We have an attack to plan." He turned back to Drusilla and offered her his arm. "My dear, would you care for some Muggle children?" he asked gallantly as they strode up the hill to Riddle House.


	3. Settling In and Dusting Up

Chosen 3 - Hermoine and Ginny

            "And the door on your left will lead you up to the tower, where you rooms are."

            Dumbledore led the Scoobies up to an ancient looking wooden door and stopped. "We used to house a certain Slytherin there whenever he'd claim to come into his Veela inheritance." the Headmaster said fondly. "Such a young imp, that Malfoy." 

            The four looked at each other. Buffy, Willow, Dawn, and Giles had made the Floo trip over to Hogwart's after recieving Dumbledore's letter. Faith and Robin Wood had elected to continue searching California for Slayers with Xander and Andrew and some of the Newly Awoken Slayers, including Kennedy, had left the group to find their families. 

            "Thank you, Albus." Giles said, politely interrupting the Head Master's internal tangent. He hoisted his carry-on bag farther up his shoulder and motioned towards the door. "I think we'd all like to get settled before tomorrow's ,erm, excitement." 

            The Head Master nodded. "Of course, Rupert." He made to leave, but turned back suddenly. "I just remembered: should you need access to my office, the password this term is 'Fizzing Wizbee'" And with that, Dumbledore left them to their unpacking. 

            "What's a Veela? Or a Fizzing Frizbee?" Buffy asked as the gang filed into the tower's large sitting room. There were four doors, and Buffy and Dawn were soon bickering over who got the room closest to the private bathroom. Needless to say, Buffy won.

            Giles shrugged as he walked over to a door and poked his head in. "I don't know." he said. "Maybe they're some variety of demons particular to this area." His voice carried from the room, where he was unloading his clothes into a chest of drawers. "We'll have to ask Albus and the rest of the faculty once we get settled in." A pause, then: "Good God! Have you seen the bath?"

Willow smiled softly to herself and entered her room. Although she was happy to be staying with the kind wizards who had helped her after Tara's death, her thoughts wandered back to her last talk with Kennedy. 

_'I know why you've been ignoring me lately, Will' Kennedy said quietly. 'It's alright, really. If you're not happy being with me, then I guess, as much as I'd like to, I can't force you to stay.' She looked up, and traced __Willow__'s jaw with her finger. 'But if you're ever in __New York__...' she trailed off jokingly and then nodded and left to pack her few surviving belongings._

Willow sighed as she flopped back on the bed. Unpacking her suitcase could wait until morning, after she'd gotten some sleep. 

            Giles returned to his room, and flopped down much in the same way as Willow. Although England was his home, his body was still adjusting from Pacific Time. He didn't bother unpacking anymore than his night clothes and toothbrush, but fell asleep on the bed before he could even reach the bathroom.

            Across the sitting room, Dawn was exploring her new domain. She turned to the tall wardrobe and went to put her clothes in it, but found a row of witch's robes already in place. 'Right.' she thought, 'I'm a student here now.' She took one out and pulled it around her, admiring her reflection in the full length mirror beside the door. 'Hmm. Ravenclaw?' she thought, puzzled. 'I guess Dumbledore's heard about my mad Watcher Junior skillz.' She giggled as she took off her robe and prepared for bed, and fell asleep to the image of the old wizard making the "west side' sign with his arthritic fingers. 

            Buffy was the last of the group to fall asleep. She stood at her window until late into the night, staring at the full moon and remembering the blonde vampire who had given his life so that the world would see another day. She fell into a dreamless sleep against the glass and only awoke when Dawn and Giles told her she was going to be late for her first day.            

~*~*~*~*~*~

The Great Hall was alive with chatter as the Gryffindors entered and took their seats. Hermoine sat beside Ginny at the end of the table and started talking animatedly about her new Transfiguration essay. Harry and Ron took the seats across from them and quietly began eating breakfast, Harry worried about his scar and Ron about his dream (something about Neville and the Quidditch patch bleachers). Across the Hall at the Slytherin table, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson were all whispering to each other and looking very excited.    

"I wonder what their plotting now." Ron remarked bitterly as he violently mashed butter into his toast. "They don't even hide it now that You-Know-Who's back in power." 

            Hermoine rolled her eyes and pointed at the Head Table. "Maybe they're wondering who all the new teachers are." she said patronizingly. "It worries me how unobservant you are sometimes..." 

            Harry ignored the rest of Hermione's lecture and followed Ron and Ginny's horrified gazes to the teacher's table. Sure enough, there were two new teachers: a redhead, who was deep in conversation with Professor Dumbledore, and a blonde, who was slowly nodding off in her seat.

            Gently disengaging the redhead, Dumbledore stood. "Now I know I don't usually make important announcements at breakfast, but this is truly exceptional news." he began. "No doubt you have noticed the arrival of four new faces to this school. The teachers are, by name, Willow Rosenberg (the redhead waved), the new Wandless Magick teacher and Buffy Summers (who started when she realized Dumbledore sheepishly straightened in her chair) who will be teaching Physical Defense. Those of you in Ravenclaw will have no doubt noticed a new addition to your house - Dawn Summers." The students clapped, Ravenclaw most enthusiastically, until the Head Master held up his hand. "They are Americans and I expect you to treat them with the same respect you would give any other distinguished guests. Now, back to enjoying this lovely meal. Professor Rosenberg here would recommend the bacon and eggs." 

            Hermione was positively ecstatic. "New teachers!" she breathed.

            Harry watched the new girl and frowned: she was chatting amiably with his ex-girlfriend, Cho Chang.

            Beside him, Ron made a face. "Extra teachers means extra subjects means extra homework, Moine." he whined. "And I can barely cope with the ones we have now." 

            "What's the matter? Weasel can't cope with a little homework?" came Draco Malfoy's snide voice. The four friends whipped around to face the Slytherin and his two cronies, Grabbe and Goyle. 

            Ginny was the nearest and first to stand up. "You won't be so smug once we start getting assignments either, so why don't you just sod off?" she snapped, eyes blazing. 

Crabbe and Goyle inched forward as Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "Looks like we may have to teach the little Weasel some manners." he said menacingly. 

"You're outnumbered here, Malfoy." Harry growled, turning towards the end of the table. "I suggest you leave before we mark up that pretty face of yours." 

Malfoy only snorted. "I never knew you swung that way, Potter." he drawled. "I'm sorry, but Father would never allow me to be associated with the likes of you." He gave Harry a once-over. "No matter how cute he is." 

Hermoine stepped forward to flank Ginny. "You get your filthy eyes off him, Malfoy." she growled. Her hands were balling into fists by her side, as were Ginny's. 

Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward as well. "You're one to talk about filthy, Mudblood." Draco retorted. "No wonder the guys never give you the time of day - they can taste your stink."

_WHAM!!!_

Ginny and Hermoine's fists collided with the blonde Slytherin, sending him flying through the Great Hall door. Both girls stood in amazement, looking alternately at their fists and each other.

Students were instantly in an uproar and teachers were instantly by their sides.

            "What is the meaning of this?!" McGonagal shouted as she ran down to them. Professor Dumbledore quickly followed her. 

            The three turned to their house head. "We're sorry, Professor." Ginny began. "It's just the Malfoy -" 

But Dumbledore held up his hand. "We saw what happened, Ms.Weasely" he said gently. "What I believe Professor McGonagal is trying to ascertain in how Mr. Malfoy ended up where he is." His eyes twinkled and the students knew he knew something they didn't.

Hermoine was the first to speak. "I don't know, Professor." she said slowly. "He was making fun of me, and I just couldn't take it anymore so I hit him as hard as I could." Her eyes filled with fearful tears, so Ginny took over.

"Please don't expell us, Professor." she pleaded. "You must know how tense the air has been at Hogwart's ever since we found out To - You-Know-Who is back." She looked up at the Professor's grave faces, hoping desperately they hadn't caught her slip up. 

McGonagal pursed her lips until everyone was sure they would disappear, and then spoke. "I know, Ms. Weasely. But that does not give students an excuse to vent their frustration by beating each other." she said. 

Dumbledore spoke up. "I agree with Professor McGonagal." he concurred gravely. "I want the three of you to come with me to my office." His face was grave, but his eyes twinkled again as he waved to the American professors, who rose from their chairs at the teacher's table and followed the procession to the Head Master's office.


	4. Chapter the Fourth

I've decided to do something different. From here on out, this story is dedicated to all the girls out there who have faced their own personal Voldemorts.

But in happier news: I got reviews:D:D

**Aliesha**: Congratulations! Have a broomstick shaped cookie! I promise by the time you're done eating it, you'll feel right as rain and ready to leave another review. As for Xandrew, I kept seeing HoYay between the two during the last season of Buffy, so I decided that they should get a move on and get together. Oh, and I never liked Kennedy so I tossed her down a plot hole.

**ele**: Thanks! Dru is such a treat to write and ol' Voldy's such a challenge. I'm glad someone who isn't me was satisfied with the way that turned out.

**Dannii**: Thanks for the encouragement!

**Gaia**: Thankfully, my muse is making up for lost time. I'm a lean, mean, chapter-writing machine! However, if I ever get stuck, I'll be sure to drop you a line!

Thank you guys for all the reviews. Please, keep them coming!

The common room was quiet as Ginny and Hermoine returned from their meeting with Dumbledore and the Americans. In his usual quiet understanding, Dumbledore had allowed the girls the rest of the afternoon off, to give them time to absorb the shocking news.

"Unbelievable." Ginny exclaimed as she flopped down by the fireplace. "It's just unbelievable!"

Hermoine regarded her friend from the chair across from her. "What other explanation is there, Gin?" she asked her friend. "Think about it -"

"I don't want to." Ginny pouted.

"We sent Malfoy flying." Hermoine continued. "You and I both know that before we got this power, our combined strength _maybe_ could've gotten him to back up a few steps. Face it, Gin. They were right and we are Slayers." She sighed, and ran a hand through her bushy chestnut locks. Slowly, a smile crept across her face. "It was pretty funny, though." she said mischievously.

Ginny was forced to agree. "I just wish I could be there when he gets back to the dungeons." she said, grinning. "Big, bad, son-of-a-Death-Eater, beaten up a by a pair of little girls."

The girls shared a quiet laugh. "Maybe being a Slayer won't be all that bad." Ginny conceded. "And if we _occasionally_ flex our muscles in Malfoy's general direction..." she trailed off, her face a picture of mock innocence.

Hermoine chuckled. "I don't think they can fault us that." she said. "But I want to read up on our new condition with those books Mr. Giles lent me." She hoisted her book bag onto the table and began lovingly setting the books out. "I want to know exactly what's required of us, what we can do, what American vampires look like." She sighed dreamily at all the new knowledge about to fill her head.

Ginny, however, rolled her eyes. "Well, I for one just want to sleep." she said, yawning. "Nothing helps new information take hold like a good nap." She turned on her heel and headed for the stairs to her dorm. "So we're going to save the world." she said, pausing on the stairs. "That's just...neat!"

Some time later, Ginny awoke from her brief slumber. She stretched out on her bed, luxuriating in the dreamy weightlessness of being in between sleep and total awareness. She had been dreaming of flying high above the Quidditch patch with a boy whose face she couldn't see. They soared away from Hogwarts to a beautiful garden with high hedges and a crystal fountain where they landed and kissed. Ginny smiled; it was the first time in years that Voldemort hadn't been a central figure in her subconscious.

Slowly, through the haze of relaxation, Ginny became aware of a shape at the end of her bed. "Alright, Hermoine." she said groggily. "Tell me what fantastic new discovery you've made about Slayer power."

The shape snorted. "Slayer? Interesting."

Ginny sat bolt upright, for the shape was none other than Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort himself. He smiled at her. "Pleasant dreams, Virginia?" he asked politely.

Ginny scrambled out of her bed. "How the hell did you get in here?" she screamed.

"Now really, there's need to shout, Virginia." Tom drawled. "I may only be a projection but I can hear you quite clearly." He smiled, amused by his own wit.

Ginny edged slowly towards him. "You're not really with me?" she whispered. She squinted and ran her hand through his midsection. "You're not real." she concluded.

Tom sighed. "Oh?" He reached up and smoothed a lock of red hair behind Ginny's ear, causing her to gasp and stiffen. "I'm very real. I'm also in control of this little meeting. I can touch you, kiss you, or curse you depending on how well you follow my instructions." He leaned in and nipped her earlobe. "You were always so good at that." he murmured as his tongue lightly traced the concave of her ear.

Closing her eyes, Ginny let the sensation wash over her. It was deliciously wicked to have him near her again, to let him reawaken her hunger as his lips brushed her neck. She felt, more than heard the voice telling her to let him take control again. Control...control...she knew she had to remember something about control...

Suddenly, her anger resurfaced and her eyes snapped open. "Get out of here." she growled. "_Murderer._"

Tom's face darkened. "I would be less inclined to throw petty labels about if I were you, Virginia." he said, his velvety voice dangerously low. "You committed more than a few crimes when we were together, or do you not remember?" He sneered at the fear and recognition that was beginning to show in her eyes. "Yes, all those innocent Mudbloods could have died because of acts you committed. How does it feel to know you are responsible for your own best friend's petrification?"

Ginny swallowed hard and fought to keep her gaze and her voice level. "I was only a child!" she hissed. "You took advantage and you used me! If anyone is responsible for her suffering, it's _you!_"

Tom roared and leveled his wand at Ginny's heart "You may think you have power," he snarled. "But those Americans won't be able to save you when I decide your time has come!"

Ginny paled a shade, and groaned inwardly as her eyes slid down to regard Tom's wand. If what he said was true, then all he had to was say the words and she'd be a pile of ashes. But if he was lying...surely there were spells that could have fooled her into feeling his touch...

Ginny closed blinked hard and forced her gaze back up to Tom's eyes, which were now black with rage and dark power. Then it hit her: power. She had power. She wasn't eleven years old anymore. She smirked. "I won't need them." she said, willing the courage to back up her words. "I can take care of myself just fine."

Tom's eyes darkened even further. "Then let's see what this new and improved Virginia can do." He poked his wand harder into Ginny's chest. "CRUCIO!"

As usual, let me know what you think!


	5. A Big Power Outage in Ginny County

Chosen 5: 

Woohoo! I keep getting reviews! Yay! 

**Aliesha: I know. Aren't I a stinker? I promise this new chapter will make up for it. **

**Danii****: I know! It's a sickness! But we don't want the cure, do we?**

**dancetdplc****: Thanks! And never fear: the Xandrew got removed from the story in the re-editing process. However, I do intend to put slash of a different variety in the next chapter that will play a part in the main story. I hope you like it. I put Dawn in Ravenclaw because Gryffindors come across to me as fighters and Dawn's more down with the book-learning. Look for her and Cho Chang to get close (not like that, though)**

**FireSpryte1423: Your review made my day. :D I was raised by Frasier and Niles, the Grammer Nazis. I'm glad to see it's paying off. Sadly, I don't see a way to include Angel or Spike, but did you see the second episode of _Angel? "Where's Buffy? Europe." Dude! That is so a shout-out. Or I'm delusional. Whatever...._**

**Cattt**:** Your wish is my command. **

And now I present to you the new chapter, featuring He-Who-Has-A-Way-With-The-Ladies!, Angry!Ginny, Bellylaughing!Snape, DarkWillow!, and mildlykinky!sex.

            "CRUCIO!!"

            Ginny stiffened and screwed her eyes shut, anticipating the worst.

            Seconds passed...and passed...

            But she felt nothing, other than the terror that had lodged itself inside her stomach since she had awakened. Slowly, Ginny opened her eyes to find Tom still pointing his wand at her chest but with significantly more rage.    

            Roaring, Tom whirled around and flung a curse at Hermoine's bed, causing it to crack and groan as it collapsed to the floor. He turned back to Ginny. "Your new powers may protect you from Unforgivable Curses, but it won't protect your precious Potter." he spat, eyes dark and maniacal. Smirking as Ginny stiffened, he continued. "Now let me make something clear, as I would have before you so rudely interrupted me: if you don't join my cause, I will torture to death every single person you hold dear." His face, formerly a grotesque mask of hatred, now softened into a seductive stare. "You may be immune but are your family members? I wonder how Fred and George would look as their bodies contort with pain. Or Percy. Imagine the helpless look on his face as I command him to climb out of the Tower window and jump." Ginny swallowed hard, trying to keep her fearful tears in check. "Yes. That's it, my darling. Never forget: you hold their lives in the balance. Adieu, my love." he whispered silkily into her ear as he disappeared. 

            Ginny stood frozen to the spot. She tried to calm herself but nothing seemed to work. Groping blindly behind her for support, she sank her back into the wall as her mind pulsated with abject terror. 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named just came to me personally.' she thought wildly. 'The Dark Lord just popped into my bedroom like he belonged here and threatened to kill my family. And I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it.' Ginny made a fist and punched the floor in frustration, barely registering the pain that shot up her arm. 'What the hell good is Slayer power if I can't even keep him away from me? Merlin, I couldn't even think of a spell to block him! What kind of witch am I?' she wondered sullenly. 'I. Can't. Beat. Vol...demort' she forced herself to think his name. 'I was stupid for thinking I could. I can't do anything with any power that I have, so what's the point?' Ginny sighed and curled her knees under her chin. 'I don't even know why he wants me so badly. Can't he see what a squib I am? Or maybe he just needs to use me as a power source again.' Ginny smiled bitterly. 'The only thing that ever got me attention was being his and it nearly killed me.'

            The sound of the door opening and the accompanying shouts forced Ginny out of her reverie. "OH MY LORD!!!!" Hermoine screamed. "WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME HAPPENED TO MY BED?????" She ran over to it, and with an emphatic "Nocturnus Repairus" returned the bed to its former state. It was from this angle that she noticed Ginny huddled against the wall. "Ginny, are you alright?" she asked, then tentatively: "Did you do this?" 

            The younger girl sprang to her feet. "Of course I didn't!" she yelled. "Why is it that the only time anyone notices me is when things fall apart?" she snapped as she turned and fled the room. 

            She was half way down the hall before she realized where she was. In the distance, she could here Dumbledore murmuring and an unfamiliar voice replying in worried tones. They were coming closer. Thinking quickly, Ginny tucked herself behind a suit of armor and willed her frantic breathing to still. 

            "I could definitely feel him here, Albus." Willow said, worry wrinkling her pale brow. "It felt just the way you said it would, like I was going to be sick." 

            The Head Master nodded gravely. "Yes, he does have that effect on people." The pair stopped conveniently in front of the suit that concealed Ginny, allowing her a better shot at hearing their conversation. "But please keep in mind that I don't want the students knowing that Voldemort was on school grounds. I don't need a panic disrupting the school year, especially when everyone is already on edge." 

            Ginny's eyes widened in fear. 'I guess that means I wasn't dreaming.' she thought pitifully. 

            Dumbledore continued. "I know the girls didn't take the news as well as you and Miss Summers had hoped, but we need to start their training right away."   
            Willow nodded in agreement. "I'll double back to the tower and get everyone ready." She turned and headed back down the hallway she and Dumbledore had come from.

            "You can come out now, Ms. Weasely." The Head Master said gently. Ginny blushed as she emerged from her hiding place. Dumbledore smiled gently at her, his eyes radiating the kind warmth that endeared him to (most) students and teachers alike. "Is there anything you'd like to tell me, dear? You look quite upset."

            Ginny swallowed and weighed her options. If she lied, she knew the Head Master would not press the issue and she would carry the weight of the encounter on her own. If she told the truth, she would also have to admit her failure in not being able to use her powers to stand up to Tom.  Neither option was appealing. "No, sir." she said quietly. 

Dumbledore regarded her for a second and then shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ms. Weasley but I have already made that mistake twice and both times the consequences were severe. I know that something is bothering you and I have a strong hunch what it is." He seemed taller suddenly, but also several years older. 

Ginny sighed as she stared at the ground. "He came to me." she whispered, shame stinging her eyes. 

The Head Master nodded understandingly. "And what did he say, my dear?" 

Ginny allowed a disdainful chuckle to pass through her before answering. "Other than that he would kill my friends and family if I didn't join the Death Eaters?" she asked sarcastically. 

Dumbledore frowned. "I think this should involve Severus, as well as the Americans." he said solemnly. "Please, fetch Miss Granger and come to my office as soon as you can get there."

            Ginny was about to protest as Dumbledore walked away. She felt instantly ashamed of the way she had snapped at her friend and fellow Slayer and seeing her again was the last thing Ginny wanted to do. 'But an order is an order.' she thought to herself as she forced her legs back to Gryffindor tower. 'And I'm so good at following those.' 

Hermoine was sitting in the common room when Ginny walked in. The brunette greeted her coolly before returning to her book ("Daemons Most Daemented") 

"I'm sorry, Moine." Ginny said plaintively. "I didn't mean to lose my temper like that." 

Hermoine put the book down on a table and stood up. "If you don't accept the fact that you're a Slayer, that's your choice." she said slowly. "But I do accept it, and I won't have you breaking things, _my_ things when you lose your temper." She folded her arms and waited for Ginny to speak.

The red head sighed. "I didn't break your bed." she said quietly. "He did." 

Hermoine was puzzled. "He who? No boys are allowed in the girls' dorm, you know that." she said, confused. "Gin, what are you playing at?" 

"Voldemort broke your bed."

Hermoine was speechless. "The Dark Lord was here?" she asked, fear tightening her voice. "How? Why?"

Ginny put a hand on her friend's arm. "That's why Dumbledore asked me to come and get you. The Americans will explain everything."

*

"Well, I'm stumped." Buffy said simply.

Ginny and Hermoine groaned. After an hour of hypothesizing, the assembled group of Dumbledore, Snape, Ginny, Hermoine, Buffy, Willow and Giles had yet to come up with a possible explanation as to how Tom Riddle had appeared at the foot of Ginny's bed. Even the portraits of past Head Masters were silent in their confusion.

"Professor Dumbledore, if I may" Professor Snape began. "I don't believe the Americans are familiar enough with our world to be of much use." He ignored the Buffy's glare and continued. "What I mean to say is that we obviously are not going to uncover the Dark Lord's means tonight. We should start preparing for when he actually appears on the school grounds." The blonde Slayer relaxed, but only a bit.

"You may be right Severus." Dumbledore admitted tiredly. "There are only a handful of spells that could have bypassed the anti-Apparation wards but we have no way of pinning one as his mode of transportation. Why don't we get started on what the girls are going to be learning?"

Giles straightened in his seat. "Well, I was thinking it would be informative to see what these two ladies are capable of already before we start their training." he suggested. He turned to Ginny and Hermoine. "Can you two show me how you would throw a punch?" he asked. 

Looking at each other and shrugging, the girls rose and stood behind their chairs. Each balled her fists and made kitten-like swipes at the air. 

Willow bit her cheeks to suppress her laughter and Buffy had to quickly reminded herself of her abysmal first fight against a vampire back in LA. "What about a kick?" Buffy asked hopefully. 

This time, the results were even worse. Hermoine managed a wobbly can-can like maneuver but Ginny went full throttle and landed backwards on the floor. The Head Master's Office was suddenly filled with raucous laughter as the portraits and Professor Snape burst into loud guffaws. Even Giles was having trouble hiding an amused grin.

Ginny glared and hastily got to her feet. "I'd like to see you try any better." she snapped. Dusting off her robes, she sat back in her chair, which, unfortunately, she did with a little too much gusto and landed on her back again. Ginny groaned as Hermoine scooped her and the chair back up to a proper sitting position.  

Willow grinned as she regarded the two Hogwart's Slayers. "I think we'll be starting at the beginning, huh Sensei?" she quipped at Giles and Buffy. 

"Hey. It's not a biggie." Buffy said consolingly, patting Ginny on the arm. "The first time I slayed, I got the liver. And that was after I screamed like a six year old and tried to hide behind my Watcher."

Buffy's words would normally have at least made Ginny smile but after her encounter with Tom, she was much too short-tempered. "Look, I don't mean to be snappish but when are we going to learn how to use this power?" she asked crossly. "I've got daemons to fight and vampires to slay. ('And handsome men who want to kill me to stop.' she added silently.) I need to begin, as soon as possible." Ginny folded her arms and leaned slowly back into her chair. "I can't do that by falling over."

"You're quite right." Giles said soothingly. "Your timetable has been changed to reflect your new courses with Buffy and Willow." He took off his glasses and cleaned them. "I believe you have Buffy's course first thing in the morning." 

Ginny exhaled sharply and closed her eyes. "I guess that will have to do then." she said. Abruptly, she rose from her chair. "But if that is all, Professor Dumbledore, I'd like to return to my room. Hopefully no one will be waiting for me." Ginny left the room before anyone could respond. 

The assembled group looked surprised. "She was such a quiet girl." Severus reflected. "Until you_ people came along with this ridiculous notion. Honestly, choosing little girl to save the world." The Potions Master crossed his arms and leaned against the back of his chair._

Buffy was instantly on her feet. "Hey! You want to keep your mouth shut about things you don't understand?" she asked threateningly. 

Snape stared back, bored. "Temper temper, Miss Summers." he said dryly. "I do not think it wise to be making enemies among faculty members before your first day on the job."

"And I wouldn't be wanting to make an enemy of the Slayer, _Sevvie." she snipped._

Snape almost growled as he sprang to his feet, where he towered over the diminuitve blonde. "Do not _ever_ call me 'Sevvie'!" he roared. "I am, at all times, _Professor Snape. Do you understand that, child?" _

Willow stepped in between them. "Hey, hey, guys." she said nervously. "Why don't we all calm -" but neither party seemed to hear her. 

"Slimeball!"

"Git!"

"Why don't you wash once and awhile?"

"Why don't you show more respect to you betters?"

"Oh, go brew a love potion. I hear getting laid is great for the complexion."

"Well, why don't you go sniffing around the Forbidden Forrest? I hear giants just love blonde playthings!" 

"ENOUGH!!"

Both Willow and Dumbledore were radiating power. The Professor's hair was shock white and the witch's eyes were pitch black. Willow raised her arm, which sent Buffy roughly back into her seat; Dumbledore flicked his wand and Professor Snape stiffened. Having the two restrained, the witch and wizard relaxed and the aura of dangerous power passed from them.

"We do not have time for petty in-fighting." Dumbledore said quietly. "We have two girls here with incredible power and no idea how to use it." He turned to Buffy. "Find Ms. Weasely and tell her everything you know about being a Slayer. Miss Granger, I know, will be much more content to study it formally." Buffy glared at the ground but left quickly. 

"Severus." The Head Master said, turning to the Body-Bound Potions professor. "Finite Incantatum. Now, I thought you of all people would have learned by now the price of letting petty grudges cloud your judgment. We are fighting a war and we need only the calmest of minds. Return to your chambers and get a good night's rest; we need our Potions Professor in top form for tomorrow." Dumbledore took a breath. "I daresay this meeting is finished. Everyone may return to their rooms. I expect everyone to be at the top of their game tomorrow, is that understood." 

"Yes Professor" and "Of course, Albus." floated to the Head Master as the group left the office. As soon as they were gone, Dumbledore sat wearily down at his desk. He had not wanted to demean his double agent in front of the new company but his childish actions had necessitated it. 'We cannot afford any more losses.' he thought gravely as he reached for his Pensieve. 'We might not be able to continue otherwise.'

*

"Adieu, my love." Voldemort breathed as he opened his eyes. 

Dru opened hers at the same time and began tittering madly. "We did it, my lord." she said excitedly, clapping her hands. "Didn't mummy tell you? She's helpless against your charms." Dru giggled again. She got up from her chair and began humming to herself as she waltzed around the room.

Voldemort sat and stared hard at his reflection. The spell to restore his former looks had been quite the success and as a result, mirrors were now everywhere in Riddle House. He ran a hand through his dark hair and smiled appreciatively at himself. If only Virginia could be there to share in his happiness. And reap the rewards...

Suddenly, inspiration struck him. "Yes, Drusilla. You have proven yourself a powerful ally." he said smoothly. He rose from his chair and came up behind her, grabbing her about the waist and moving his hips with hers. "But there is one more favour I must ask of you tonight." he murmured, nuzzling his face into her hair.

Dru turned to him "My lord wants another trick?" she asked, tilting her head to one side, her gaze penetrating. Suddenly, she started cackling. "Oh my. That is a lovely trick, dirty trick, lovely trick." she whispered in his ear. Breaking the embrace, she moved over to Voldemort's desk and sat. Voldemort followed and stood in front of her. Putting one hand behind his head, she maneuvered herself so to look directly in his eyes. "Look at me." she commanded lowly, bringing her fingers up to further the hypnotic effect. "See what you want to see." She held her hand over his eyes. "See with your heart." 

Voldemort was amazed at the sight before him when she lowered her hand. "Virginia." he whispered almost reverently. The girl who had haunted his dreams with her bright green eyes and blood-red hair was before him, smiling demurely.

"Yes, Tom." 'Ginny' answered. "I've come back to you, my love." She slid off the desk and snuggled deeply into his waiting arms. "I'll never leave you again."

Voldemort closed his eyes and smiled. "No, you never will." He lifted a hand from the small of her back and cupped her chin, guiding her face close to his. "Kiss me, Virginia."

"I love you, Master." 'Ginny' whispered as Voldemort's mouth descended to claim hers.  

I know you can see that little review button down there. Push it! And make me smile. :)


	6. Bad Boys and Those Who LoveHate Them

Chosen 6: New Friends and New Ideas

Wow. These next chapters took forever to write. *glares at her professors* But I got them done and out to you! Sorry for the delays!

"Ginny!" Buffy called as she ran down the hallway. "Ginny wait! I want to talk to you!" 

            But the younger girl continued her flight and it took all of Buffy's restraint not to put on a burst of speed and catch her by force. So, she slowed to a walk and called out again. "Fine! Run away! But you'll never get your answers." Satisfied when she saw Ginny screech to a halt, Buffy continued. "I know it's hard to accept. I know what it's like to have power and not know the first thing to do." By now she had caught up with Ginny, who was staring at the ground with a frightening intensity. Buffy placed a hand gently on the girl's shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked quietly.

            Ginny whipped around and glared at Buffy. "I know what you're trying to do." she said angrily. "It's been happening all my life. 'Are you okay Ginny, dear?', 'Would you like an extra blanket, dear?', 'You should get out more, see other people, Ginny dear.'" she spat out an angry impression of her mother. "I don't want to be coddled! I just need to know how to stop -" Ginny froze. She had almost let it slip. "I need to stop tripping over myself because I don't know my own strength." she finished shakily, praying that Buffy would buy her excuse.  

            The other girl was unconvinced. "So, what's the real reason you're so amped about learning to fight?" she asked gently

Ginny was confused. "'Amped'?" 

            Buffy shook her head. "You're pretty enthusiastic for someone who, just this afternoon, was calling me 'a crazy git who should be thrown in St. Mungo's with Gilderoy Lockheart'." she clarified. She sat down on the top of a nearby staircase and patted the space beside her. "Wanna talk?"

            Ginny sighed. Her story was crazy, even by wizarding standards. 'And maybe if I get thrown in the loony bin, I can drown my sorrows in answering Lockheart's fan mail.' she thought sarcastically.

She sat down and took a deep breath. "There was a boy." she began slowly. 

                                                                        *

An hour later, Ginny had ended up telling Buffy the entire twisted tale of her relationship with Tom. "And his last words to me were 'my love'." she finished sadly. 

            Buffy stared concernedly from her resting point, leaning against the banister. 

            "And you know what the worst part is?" Ginny asked rhetorically.

            "That you still love him." Buffy finished.

            "Since when are you a Legilimens?" Ginny asked suspiciously. "A mind-reader." she clarified, off Buffy's quizzical look.

            Buffy took a deep breath. "Well, there was a boy." she began, mimicking Ginny's start. "And I loved him so much it nearly killed me, even while he was doing all these awful things to people I cared about. He was evil and I still refused to give up on the memory of the person I knew, the person I loved. I tried everything to get rid of it; I even killed him and that didn't help. So, I did the only thing I could: I kept on loving him, even after he left me." She flicked her gaze up to a gaping Ginny. "So, yeah. I can relate.  "I thought I was the only one." Ginny said softly. "I mean, it looks so pathetic when you try and see it from the outside. Girl meets boy. Boy nearly kills girl, but girl can't let go of his lies." Ginny scoffed. "Absolutely pathetic." 

            Buffy frowned. "It's not stupid, Ginny." she said. "There has to be some reason why you still love him." She cocked her head slightly to the side. "Come on, Ginny. Why are you hanging on?"

            Ginny scowled and traced a patch of dirt on the floor. "It's stupid." she muttered. She sighed as she absent-mindedly wiped her finger on the hem of her robes. "I want to save him." she mumbled.

            Buffy smiled slightly. "Now we're getting somewhere. So you think that learning to use you powers, magical as well as Slayer, will somehow enable you to rescue him from the person he's become." 

Ginny nodded, still fascinated by the hem of her robe. "I told you it was stupid." she muttered. "I'm just a Weasley. How in the name of all things magical am I going to anything to the Dark Lord?" She poked a finger into the dust. 

Buffy rose and straightened, as did Ginny. "I honestly don't know what to tell you, Ginny." she said simply. "Other than I know what you're going through, and I'll be here all year!" The girls chuckled low. 

Ginny smiled. For the first time in years, someone was taking her problems seriously and not trying to solve them with a hug and a glass of pumpkin juice. She beamed at the Slayer, but the American seemed lost in her own world. "Miss Summers?" Ginny asked tentatively. "Are you - "

            "Shh!" Buffy commanded, placing a finger against the other girl's lips. "Listen. Can you hear them?" 

            Ginny strained but with her new abilities, she found she could hear the far-off voices quite easily; two boys were arguing somewhere down the hall. Ginny turned to see Buffy quietly inching her way down the rest of the staircase, so she followed. The argument was getting louder now, and it sounded like Harry was involved. 

            Buffy motioned over her shoulder for Ginny to come in close to her behind a pillar. Poking her head out from behind, Ginny could see Harry, with his back turned to her, and a shock of platinum blonde hair in front of him.

            "Oh my God." Buffy whispered to herself. 

            "Oh for Merlin's sake, they're at it again." Ginny groaned. 

            The Slayer shook her head. "Who's at what again?" she asked.

            "My friend Harry, you know, The Boy Who Lived?" Ginny asked and Buffy nodded. "Well, he's got this arch-nemesis relationship with another student, a Slytherin named Draco Malfoy. And it looks like their having another one of their infamous Hallway Brawls." Ginny poked her head out and listened to the terse exchange. "Yep. Any minute now, their going to bring out the wands and hex each other into unconsciousness."

            Buffy smiled wryly. "I guess I've got to go out there and stop them?" she asked, poking her head out as well.

            Ginny chuckled. "It's harmless. But I see no one's explained the Pool to you." she laughed again at Buffy's confusion. "It goes like this: no one fights as long and as hard as they do without some other reason. The popular theory here is that they've wanted to shag each other senseless since they laid eyes on each other but couldn't deal with it. So, they fight while we watch and place bets on when they'll finally act on the tension. I believe the last tally on the Galleons was just under 25. I myself have bets on the Christmas holidays coming up. Hermoine has hers on tonight." Ginny sighed. "Boys. Is there anything more pathetic?"

            Buffy giggled. "Remind me to get in on this once I get my money changed." she said. 

            However, the girls' merriment was cut short when suddenly, Draco collapsed into Harry's arms. The Slayers bolted out from their hiding places and were on either of Harry's sides before he could blink. 

            "Harry!" Ginny asked frantically. "What did you do to him?!"

            Harry looked almost as frightened as Ginny. "I don't know!" he answered, grunting under the weight of his enemy. Buffy took him and laid him gently down on the castle floor. "Who are you?" he asked the blonde, who was eying Draco with something akin to pained confusion.

            Buffy took a breath and then straightened. "Your new Muggle Defense teacher." she replied. "Now, you want to tell me what happened and what curse you were using?"

            Harry bristled. "I wasn't using any curse." he snapped. "Malfoy and I were just arguing because he caught me wondering the halls after hours. We started trading insults and things were getting pretty intense when he suddenly stopped. He looked like he was going to be sick, but he just managed to wimper 'Help me' or something before he hit the ground." Harry scoffed. "He must have some fever if he thinks I'm going to do anything but leave him on the floor until Peeves finds him and pelts him with Dung Bombs." 

            Buffy rubbed the side of her head gently as she went back to Draco's side. "Well, if he's sick then we should get him to your nurse." She easily lifted the boy's unconscious body over her shoulders, much to Harry's amazement. 

            "How do you do that?" he asked incredulously as Buffy began walking effortlessly down the hall.

            Ginny cut in. "She's a Slayer, Harry." she said. "And apparently I am too. Buffy, you're going the wrong way."

            Buffy turned around and blushed. "I knew that." she said, distractedly. "So that other way, huh?"

            Ginny smiled. "Then take a left and then a right until you get - "

            Buffy held shook her head. "You'd better lead. I can't carry him all night if I get lost."

            "So, you're like her?" Harry asked, staring at Buffy as the three set off for the Infirmary.

            Ginny grinned. "Apparently so." she said. "Remember this morning, when Moine and I sent him flying? That's Slayer power."

            Harry was shocked. "You can do that?" he asked, jerking his head towards Buffy and Draco. Ginny nodded.  "You should come live with me at Privet Drive." Harry mused. "Between a wizard and a Slayer, I'll have the house to myself for the whole summer!"

*

            "What on earth did you do to him this time, Mr. Potter?" Madame Promfrey shrieked. She blustered over to Buffy and ordered her to set the unconscious Slytherin down on the nearest bed. Quickly waving her wand over him, she concluded that he wasn't feverish. "Or dead, so you can count yourself lucky this time." the nurse huffed. "Now, tell me exactly what happened."

            Harry sighed. "Hallways. At night. Started arguing. He collapsed. Now we're here." he explained tersely. "Can I go now?"

            But Madame Pomfrey seemed quite worried. "Tell me exactly how he looked before he went down." she ordered over her shoulder as she grabbed a quill and parchment.

            Harry began slowly. "He just stopped mid-insult and it looked like his eyes glazed over. He asked me to help him and then his eyes rolled back and he fainted." He shot a glare at Draco's unconscious form before turning back to the Mediwitch. "So, is it serious?"

            Before she could respond, Draco groaned and tried to sit up. "What the hell was I drinking this time?" he moaned, rubbing his eyes, which promptly shot open when he saw Harry. "You did this, Potter!" he snapped. "You did this to me and I...I...." Draco's mouth opened and closed several times before he looked up pleadingly at Harry. "Damn." he whispered as he fell back against the headboard.

            Madam Pomfrey was at his side in an flash. Taking his arm and waving her wand over it, she frowned. "Looks like I'll have to keep him here overnight." she said, after her procedures failed to get any response.

            Suddenly, Draco was sitting bolt upright in the bed. "What's going on? Why am I here? I feel fine." he protested. He started to get up but a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him. 

"Oh, you aren't going anywhere, Mr. Malfoy." said the nurse. She turned to Buffy. "I need you to go get Headmaster Dumbledore, Miss Summers." she instructed. "This doesn't look entirely medical."

Buffy nodded quickly and almost ran through the large infirmary doors, leaving Ginny, Harry and Madame Pomphrey with a very annoyed and very confused Draco. "I'm not going to stay in here all night." he said firmly. "I've got places to be. Now, get out of my way before I - "

"Lay down this instant, Mr. Malfoy." Pomfrey insisted. "You're having bouts of amnesia and fainting. Whatever you have to do can just wait until you've recovered to my satisfaction. Is that clear?" Satisfied as Draco appeared to calm down, she hurried away to concoct a sleeping draught.

The second Pomphrey was out of sight, Draco sprang from his bed and towards the door but Harry stood in front of it, blocked his way.

"You're not going anywhere, Malfoy." he stated firmly. "You're not well."

Draco sneered. "Or what? Merlin, you'll try any excuse to put your hands on me, eh Potter?" His eyes flashed with malevolent delight as Harry turned red. "Always figured you for a pouf anyway." He took a step closer to the Gryffindor, forcing him to back up against the door. "Now, step aside before I have to get rough." he purred into the other boy's ear, causing him to close his eyes and swallow hard. "But you'll enjoy it, won't you, Scarhead? Golden Boy likes it hard..." By now, both of Draco's hands were snaked around Harry's back, inching their way along the door handle.

Ginny cleared her throat and stepped towards the pair. "And how much did you like it rough, Malfoy?" 

Draco's eyes narrowed as he turned his head towards her. "I bet you're not so tough without the Mudblood, Weasel." he growled.

Ginny took another step forward. "Oh really?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. 

The Slytherin didn't move "I see...I se - oh, bloody hell." Draco moaned and collapsed against Harry's chest. The two Gryffindors regarded each other before moving Draco back to his hospital bed. 

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Ginny asked, poking the comatose Slytherin occasionally with the tip of her index finger.

Harry scratched the back of his head. "I have no clue, Gin but whatever it is, it's certainly doing some damage." He sighed and pulled up a chair. "I guess we better get comfortable until Dumbledore gets here." 

Ginny pulled up a chair beside him and the two sat in silence, contemplating the day's events. Suddenly, Ginny let out a wry chuckle. "I'm sorry. It's just that today has been the strangest day in my life." She sighed and smiled. "It's been all over the map. I'm a Slayer, I'm Voldemort's true love, I'm helping to rescue Ferret Boy, I'm a bodyguard at the infirmary."

Harry wasn't laughing. "What did you say about Voldemort?!" he asked, knuckles gripping the arms of his chair. 

Ginny exhaled slowly and stared down at the floor. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Voldemort was here this afternoon. He appeared in my dorm, right at the foot of my bed and threatened to kill everyone I know unless I join him." Looking up, Ginny found Harry looking positively sickened. 

"You...him....you're his....oh God." he stammered. "How the hell did that happen??"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Ginny snapped. "You think I want this? You think I like the idea that the evilest wizard in history fancies me? It's disgusting! It's horrible!"

"It's an advantage." Draco croaked as he sat up. "What? It's not listening in if you're talking about it right above my head." He pulled himself up to a sitting position and leaned back against the headboard. "I say you embrace your inner Slytherin and use it to destroy him. Love is a weakness." Draco stared intensely at the empty bed across from his. "Love gets you killed."

Ginny and Harry exchanged perplexed glances. "What are you prattling on about, Malfoy?" Harry asked harshly.

Draco scowled. "That's not very Gryffindor of you, Potter. Here I am, helping you plan the downfall of your mortal enemy and you can't get past your bullheaded pride to listen to my ideas." He folded his arms and pouted.

Ginny, however, was on the edge of her seat. "What do you think we should do, Malfoy?" she asked expectantly.

Draco rolled his eyes and regarded coolly. "I'm not saying a word until you apologize for this." he said, pointing to his chest.

Ginny ground her teeth into a smile. "Sorry." she said saccharinely. "As funny as it may have been watching you land on your pampered behind, I shouldn't have lost my temper." She batted her eyelashes for effect. "Forgive me?"

Draco sighed. "I guess. Just don't do that again; you sounded like Parkinson." 

Harry shook his head. "What about this brilliant scheme of yours, Malfoy?" he asked.

Draco furrowed his brow and seemed deep in thought. Then he turned to Ginny. "Just how much of that insufferable Gryffindor courage have you got in you?"

Feel free to review! Again. And some more!


	7. Bad Ideas

Chapter 7: Bad Ideas

"You have got to be kidding me." Snape moaned. He, along with Buffy and Dumbledore had come in to see Draco just as he was finishing his grand scheme. After shooing a disapproving Madame Pomphrey around to tend to other patients, they had heard the plan in its entirety and were currently debating its merits. "It's far too dangerous, not to mention based on assumptions we have no way of proving." He shook his greasy head. "Absolutely not."

Buffy frowned. "I think we could work this. I mean, we'd be able to keep in touch with her, and she's already resistant to Unforgivable Curses. She could pull this off; she just needs to keep her head." 

Snape glared. "Are you suggesting we sacrifice a significant power resource on a few utterances that come from the Dark Lord, no less?" he growled. "Typical American. Let's just go charging right into battle, damn the consequences!" He threw up his hands in effect, much to Buffy's annoyance.

"So let's just waste this opportunity." she cried sarcastically. "Let's just wait and maybe he'll make it easy on us and just knock on the front door! God, you can't wait for a safe opening every time." Buffy folded her arms and glared daggers at the Potions professor. 

Snape looked ready to kill. "Perhaps it's escaped your miniscule attention span, Ms. Summers, but Voldemort is a _very bad man. Am I putting this in terms you can understand?" he asked sarcastically. "Think about it: he may be trying to use her as bait. He'll lure us away from Hogwart's, where we're protected, to Riddle House, where he would control the battle. And it looks like we're falling for it."_

"But what if this is reliable information?" she asked. "It would be stupid not to take advantage of it." 

"And it would be stupid to walk straight into a trap."

"Coward."

"Moron."

"Traitor."

"Fool."

Dumbledore stepped in between the two feuding faculty members. "What I believe is lacking from this dialogue is Miss Weasley's opinion." he said wisely. "After all, she would be the one risking her life, among other things, if she were to go through with the plan."

All heads turned to Ginny, who was lost in thought. "Hunh?" she said, responding to her name. "What'd I miss?" 

Snape groaned as Buffy stepped in. "Do you think Sp-Draco's plan is too risky?" she asked, blushing slightly at her verbal slip. "You aren't our only shot here, but it would be a great opportunity to learn what makes him tick, what he's planning, maybe mess with his head a bit."

Ginny furrowed her brow slightly in confusion but let it pass. "I don't know." she said softly. "You're both right - it's risky but it might also work out." She turned to Draco, who was watching Snape and Buffy with a knowing smirk. "But I think we've forgotten the whole reason we're here. What's wrong with Malfoy?"

Dumbledore stepped out from between Buffy and Snape and stationed himself at Draco's right hand. "Mr. Malfoy, do you have any idea what may be causing your odd behaviour?" he asked gently. 

Draco shook his head. "No idea, professor. I just know that ever since my father was arrested, I've been getting headaches and losing time." He looked at Harry, who refused to meet his gaze. "And apparently, I've been acting extremely out of character." 

Dumbledore noted this and continued. "Perhaps we need your head of house. Severus, how long would it take you to brew a memory enhancing potion?"

Snape considered his favourite student. "I confiscated one this afternoon before second year Double Potions." he said. "I made the two offenders taste it as punishment, and they actually remembered the instructions in class." He reached in, pulled out a medium sized flask of pink goo, and handed it to Draco. "I believe the expression is "bottoms up", Mr. Malfoy."

Draco looked hesitantly down at the concoction. "Those students didn't happen to grow extra heads or anything, did they?" he asked uncertainly.

Snape scoffed. "Of course not. It wore off in less than an hour anyway."

Harry bit his lip and then leaned over. "It can't be worse than turning into a ferret." he said hopefully, earning him a glare from the Slytherin.

"If I do, I'll make it my top priority to scratch your eyes out, Potter." he snapped. Then, taking a deep breath, he swallowed a mouthful of the liquid. "Hmm...spearmint." he remarked, licking his lips. 

Dumbledore took the flask and set it down on the nightstand. "Now, tell us what you can remember Mr. Malfoy." he probed gently.

Draco closed his eyes, and began trance-like babbling of the first memories that came into view. "I'm four. I'm walking in the gardens back home. I like the roses best; they're so red and pretty. I think I'll pick some for mommy. Oh, there's daddy. Maybe he'll like some roses too. Hey! I spent a long time picking those! Don't throw them down on the ground!" Draco winced. "Now he's walking away. Said no son of his was going to grow up queer. What does that mean?" 

Everyone present shared disgusted looks. 

Dumbledore leaned down close to Draco's ear. "Why don't you try and focus on the memory that can explain your current condition, Mr. Malfoy." he led gently.

Draco's eyes fluttered behind his closed eyes for a second before coming to rest. "I'm ten and I've just gotten onto the Hogwart's train, but Father wants to tell me something. I can't be trusted to befriend Harry so he'll have to do it." Draco furrowed his brow, eyes still closed. "He's scaring me. I don't want to look him in the eye but he grabs my chin. I can feel his wand poking my chest and it hurts but he doesn't seem to care. What does Imperius mean? I don't understand, Father." Suddenly, Draco squared his shoulders. "I feel important now, like no one can stop me. Crabbe and Goyle are flanking me. They seem to know how important I am, too. I'm talking to Harry, but I don't like his reaction. I feel angry but I understand. I wouldn't want to be my friend right now either. But I'm still talking...I can't stop. I don't want to say these things. What's going on? Why can't I stop?" Draco began violently twitching. "I have...to...get it....off...of me....Why am I...saying...those...things? Doesn't anyone see this isn't me?" His breath now came in short, panicky gasps and he was rocking back and forth quite emphatically.

The rest of the group looked at each other, horrified. Thinking quickly, Dumbledore put his hand on Draco's shoulder. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. You've done quite well."

Draco's eyes snapped open. "Oh, Merlin." he whispered. He turned to Harry, who was staring open-mouthed at his former nemesis. "I'm so sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to...I just..."

Harry blinked and came out of his stupor. "It's okay." he whispered, still unable to tear his gaze away. "It's okay..."  

Snape's mouth set into a hard line. "I knew Lucius was a bastard but to use a curse like that on your own son, for years on end, it's barbaric." 

Ginny shook her head in mute horror. "I guess this proves you're reliable." she said quietly.

Dumbledore sighed. "I think the best course of action is to have Mr. Malfoy remain here in the infirmary, away from other Slytherins who may take offence to his new-found freedom. Unless you object, of course."

Draco closed his eyes. "Of course, Headmaster." he muttered, staring blankly ahead.

Sensing it would be best to leave quietly, the teachers quickly filed out. Harry and Ginny were about to leave when Draco grabbed Harry's hand. "Stay?" he asked pitifully.

"Of course." Harry murmured.  

Ginny took Draco's other hand. "I'll keep this a secret if you want me to." she offered, smiling slightly. 

Draco paled. "Ron." he groaned. "And Hermoine. I've been so awful to them too." He put his head down against his knees. 

Harry smiled. "I can have all of Gryffindor house come down and you can apologize to them all, one by one." he joked, but got no response. "Or I can just keep my mouth shut." He squeezed Draco's hand gently. "But I'll still be here."

"I'll go up to bed now, and tell everyone that you two have landed yourselves in the infirmary again." Ginny offered. "Believe me: no one will ask any questions. Good night."

Won't you please review? Make me smile! 


	8. Loyalties

Chapter 8: Loyalties

Woot! Reviews! Seriously, I need these, people. By the dozens! 

**Aliesha****: **I am so embarassed that I didn't catch that! Anyway, the previous chapters will be modified to include Buffy's mild wiggins over Draco. I'm starting to think I need a beta....As for the Sn-uffy, if enough people REVIEW and request it, I'll put it in. 

**Dannii****:** Thank you! If you're a fan of the H\D ship, you're going to love this next little bit, I promise.

**Dawnmescher****:** Mwahaha! Another victim! XD And thanks a lot. This is my first major foray into drama and I wasn't sure if I was sounding good or not. 

**ennui2:** Don't worry, her reaction will be...interesting. As with anything to do with Dru, expect craziness. Also, I'm glad this isn't turning into one long, unmitigated angst fest. I try to put in subtle humour, a la Joss, so things don't get too heavy. *watches as the "Hogwart's Version of _Once More With Feeling" plot bunny hippity hops on by*_

Just a few warnings:

1. I still own nothing. If you think I do, you must enjoy all that time with Gilderoy Lockheart.

2. This chapter contains mild to moderate slash. Love it or leave this fic.

3. Things are going to get really bad, really fast for Ginny once she leaves Hogwart's, so I'm toying with the idea of writing a Bloopers chapter, just so things don't get too heavy. Review with your thoughts!

4. This chapter contains homophobic slurs and few swears. Just wince and move on. 

Harry watched with trepidation as the infirmary door shut. In spite of Draco's revelation, he still reacted to the other boy with apprehension, and was still partially waiting for him to sneer and make another snide comment on Harry's appearance\parents\sexuality. So, he blinked hard twice and forced himself to face his former enemy. "So what happens now?" he asked cautiously.

            Draco sighed. "I don't know, P - Harry. It's going to take a little time to get used to calling you by your first name - if you'll let me, of course. You don't have to. I'm not expecting over-night changes..." He blushed and ducked his head. "Look at me, first free thoughts in years, and they're all just running right out of my mouth." The boys smiled nervously.

            Harry looked down to where his fingers were unconsciously fiddling with Draco's blanket. "You can call me Harry if I can call you Draco." the Gryffindor offered. "Draco. Dra-co. It feels weird to me, too."

            The blonde smiled. "Thanks. I mean, for everything." he began quietly. "I know it can't be said enough but I'm so sorry about everything I've said, done, and or thought for the past five years."

            Harry continued fiddling with the covers. "I know, and it's alright, I guess." He looked back up at Draco. "But there's something I have to say. This plan of yours, sending Ginny to Voldemort as a double agent, I'm sorry but I don't like it." Harry crossed his arms. "What information could she find out that could be useful to us? I don't think the key to bringing down the Dark Lord is finding out what he wears to bed." He paused, and made a face at the mental image of how Ginny would find that out.

            Draco sighed, exasperated. "Well, then, if my plan is so flawed, then what brilliant schemes have you come up with?" He crossed his arms and looked expectantly at Harry, who was staring down at his lap.

            "I don't know." He murmured. "These situations usually come to me. I honestly don't have a plan for this. For now."

            Draco shrugged. "It doesn't matter, anyway. Ginny hasn't agreed to anything and you know Dumbledore won't force the issue. Nothing is for sure." He smiled and looked searchingly at Harry. "So what do you think will happen to me now?"

            Harry shrugged. "I guess you'll go back to your dorms, resume the life of Slytherin, only this time, you'll be in control of what you say and do. Sound good?"

            "You've got to be kidding me." Draco moaned. "I can't go back there; they'll kill me!" He glared at the foot of the bed. "It was bad enough when they found out I was gay, bloody bunch of homophobes. What?"

            Harry's eyes took on saucer-like proportions. "You're gay?" he whispered. 

            "Oh right, the Muggle thing. It's a sin, it's immoral, blah blah blah." He sneered at Harry. "I know more about Muggle beliefs than people think. I know what you must have been raised to think. That it's - "

            Harry cut him off, holding up his hand. "No no. God, no. I could never believe that." he said, and breathed deeply. "I'm kinda gay too." Harry chuckled wryly. "Look, I'm not what you'd call introspective. It took a whole disaster of a relationship with Cho Chang to wake me up." He shook his head. "No one knows, ok? Not even Ron and Hermoine, and it's going to stay that way."

            Draco was confused. "But I thought you three were bosom buddies until the end of time and all that sap. Why not tell them something as important as this?"

            Harry frowned. "Ron." he said quietly. When Draco said nothing, he elaborated. "Ron actually knows about it, even if he can't remember. He heard me...um...say a guy's name at a sort of inopportune moment one night and he completely lost it." He looked guiltily down at his shoes. "So I was forced to take a page from Gilderoy Lockheart's book and Obliviate him." His eyes closed and he exhaled roughly. "He was just so disgusted. The look on his face - I'll never forget it."

            Draco smiled sadly, and he touched Harry's hand lightly. "I know how it feels." He let go and sank back against the headboards. "I guess I must have said something during one of my black-outs and the whole common room just stopped. Of course, I couldn't remember but Pansy was more than happy to fill me in on what I'd admitted to. Soon, the whole common room was one big wave of "faggot" or "pansy-ass"." Draco's eyes narrowed. "I had to threaten them with the Killing Curse just to get them to shut up. Then I snuck some memory potion out of class and slipped some into all of their drinks at the party a few days later." Draco smirked. "Some of them couldn't even remember their own names the next morning, and anyone I didn't get with that, I used stolen Veritaseum to get blackmail material out of." He turned to Harry, who was listening with grim recognition. "So you see, I think we have some things in common."

            "People just don't understand." Harry said quietly. "Alright, you can't go back to the dungeons." He furrowed his brow. "You could always be resorted. Who knows? You may end up a Gryffindor." 

            Draco considered. "Well, I'm not an air head or a stuck-up brain, so I guess Gryffindor it is. Of course, Dumbledore will have to approve of it." 

            Harry smiled. "I think he will. And this way, we can keep an eye on each other. You know, catch each other if we start to give ourselves away." He took Draco's hand and shook it vigorously. "Welcome to Gryffindor, Draco Malfoy. And if anyone doesn't like it, I believe they can go to hell."

            Draco rolled his eyes. "My hero!" he mocked, fanning himself.

            "Oh, shut up." Harry laughed, playfully punching Draco in the arm.

            "Hey! Be careful, Harry." the other boy protested. "I bruise easily you know!"

            Suddenly, a mischievous glint came to Harry's eye. "Really?" he said innocently. "Well then, I'll just have to tickle you to death!" Draco yelped and tried to roll out of the bed, but Harry was fast and had him pinned and squirming in less than five seconds. "Do you submit?" Harry cried.

            Draco gasped between giggle fits. "Yes! Yes! You win! I'm yours!" 

            Suddenly, both boys stopped moving, and a tender look crossed Harry's face. "Mine?" he asked coyly.

            "Always." Draco whispered as Harry's mouth descended softly onto his. 

*

            The next morning, Hermoine, Ron, and Ginny made their way down to the Great Hall, talking animatedly about Draco's conversion. 

            "So, he was cursed all this time?" Ron asked, incredulously. "Sounds like a Slytherin trick to me."

            Hermoine was thoughtful. "It would explain a lot." she said slowly. "But how can we be sure? Snape pulled that potion off of second years, right? That's far beyond them - it may have been faulty somehow."

            Ginny sighed, exasperated. "And what about people who brew Polyjuice in their second years?" she asked pointedly. "Anyway, if Harry and Dumbledore believe him, I..do..too. - " Ginny trailed off. In the distance, she could have sworn that she saw Tom lean against the wall before turning quickly and disappearing into the crowd of Hufflepuffs.

            "Ginny? Ginny! Hogwart's to Ginny Weasley." Ron joked, waving a hand in front of his sister's face. 

            Ginny started. "What?" she asked defensively.

            Hermoine frowned. "You just trailed off, and - " Suddenly, she nodded understandingly. "You're still having trouble sleeping, aren't you?"

            Ginny made to disagree, but thought better of it. "Yeah, that must've been it." she said absent-mindedly. "Let's get going. I'm starving."

The three took their seats at the Gryffindor table and started piling on the food. 

            "I'll believe it when I see it." Ron said, before spearing a sausage bit and cramming it into his mouth. 

            "Me, too." Hermoine said as she deposited a Knut in the Daily Prophet owl that was waiting for her. "If he and Harry come in together like their friends, it'll prove that Draco is genuine. He wouldn't have the guts to pull off a lie like that in front of the whole school; it would damage his precious reputation."

            Ginny, who had been busy looking around for further signs of Tom, cocked her head to the side as she sipped her pumpkin juice. "Umm...will that do, Moine?" she asked sweetly.

            Hermoine and Ron whipped around just in time to see Harry and Draco nervously walk through the Great Hall doors together. Both boys still had their wrinkled clothing from the previous night and Draco's famous hair was a bed-headed mess, but neither seemed to care. They seemed far more preoccupied with trying to maintain a non-descript distance between themselves; it was a task at which they were failing miserably.

            "Morning everyone." Harry said shyly as he sat down, Draco beside him. 

            Hermoine was the first to speak. "I don't believe it!" she murmured.  

"Are you sure he's not lying?" asked Ron, while eyeing the blond suspiciously. 

            Draco ground his teeth but Harry put a steadying hand on the other boy's elbow. "Dumbledore came in this morning and said it would be alright with him if Draco was relocated to Gryffindor with us. So, you guys are going to have to get used to the idea of Draco being our housemate." He finished defiantly.

            Ginny cocked an eyebrow and caught Harry's gaze, dragging it down to where his hand still rested comfortably on Draco's arm. Harry blushed and hastily returned it to his side before continuing. "So, I hope nobody has any objections because they won't be heard."

            Ron opened his mouth to lay a seething reply but was cut off by Pansy Parkinson, who was followed by Crabbe and Goyle. 

            "Drakey-poo?" she asked, trying to pout her thin lips. "Can we ask what you're doing over here? The Slytherin table is on the other side of the Hall."

            Draco took an uneasy breath and stood up. "I know where I am, Parkinson." he snapped. "And I happen to belong over here now. So, you and the apes can just sod off." He folded his arms and sneered at Pansy's shocked expression. "I've decided you're all too impossibly banal for the likes of me." He gestured to Harry. "At least the Golden Boy does something besides simper at the feet of the powerful. Go back to your slop, Parkinson, and never speak to me again."

            Pansy's lower lip trembled but her eyes hardened. "Fine." she spat. "Throw away what we had, but mark my words: you'll pay for this. No body crosses a Parkinson, not even you, Malfoy." She turned on her heel and returned to the Slytherin table. 

            Ron, who had been watching the exchange with his mouth open, broke into a wide grin. "Welcome to Gryffindor!" he said, enthusiastically shaking Draco's hand. "If there's anything you need, be sure to ask either Hermoine or myself and we'll be glad to help you out!"

            Draco looked down at Ron's hand in extreme discomfort. "Um...We- Ron?" he asked. "Can I ask you to stop that? I'll need that hand later."

            Ron blushed and released Draco. "Sorry, mate. But I meant what I said. Glad to have you on board."

            Hermoine reached out her hand, and gently patted Draco's (much to his relief). "Welcome, Malfoy. Call me Mudblood and I'll flatten you." she said sweetly before turning to her morning paper.

            Draco looked over at Ginny. "Well, don't I get a hug or something from you?" he joked. 

            But Ginny's bulging eyes were trained on a spot just in front of the teacher's table. "No." she mouthed. "Don't do it!"

            Harry, Hermoine, Ron, and Draco regarded her strangely. "Ginny?" Harry asked. "What are you looking at."

            Ginny didn't seem to hear him. Instead, her gaze was moving steadily from the high table to where Parvati and Lavender were chatting with Seamus and Dean. "I'll go." she whispered. "But you have to back off." She glared. "Alright, fine. Do it; see if I care." She glared again and made a show of turning airily and nonchalantly sipping her pumpkin juice. 

            Her friends were alarmed. "Ginny!" Hermoine whispered, nudging her friend. "What the hell is going on?"

            Ginny would have replied but Parvati's voice, low and gravely, suddenly commanded the attention of the entire school. "Virginia." she said. "Voldemort waits for no one. If you are not by my side by midnight tonight, then Hogwart's will burn. You have 13 hours to comply." Then Parvati's stiff form went limp and she collapsed on the floor. 

            The teachers instantly swung into action. Willow, Buffy, and McGonagal went to Parvati's side while Dumbledore calmed the students. "Everyone, please calm down." said the Head Master. The students quieted to a dull murmur. "What you have seen may have been a true vision but I don't want anyone to take it as such until we can verify it."

            Suddenly, a third year Hufflepuff stood up. "What's there to verify?" he asked, shaking. "That was You-Know-Who, calling one of us out! You all heard what he said! Whoever it was he was talking to should get out now!"

            He was met by a chorus of cheers, and Ginny shrank further in her seat. 

            "Yeah!" echoed a Slytherin. "If she doesn't get out, we'll all fry! I say we find out who it is and send them packing!"

            Harry shot up from his seat. "Back off! All of you!" he shouted. "If Professor Dumbledore says we wait, then we wait. It could have been a hoax."

            Pansy Parkinson stood up. "Of course you'd say that, Potter! You've survived him, what, five or six times now? The rest of us aren't as confident. If the Dark Lord want us dead, we'll be dead, but he says that she can save us then she has to go!"

            Dumbledore held up his hands. "That's enough!" he bellowed. The hall was instantly quiet; none of the students, besides Harry, had see Dumbledore anything other than calm and cheerful. "Ms. Summers - kindly take Ms. Patil to the Infirmary. Ms. Rosenberg, you go with her, and see if you can verify what she said." He turned back to the students. "Now, all of you are to go about to your classes and start the year off right. If measures need to be taken, we will notify your house Prefects immediately. Enjoy you day." he said solemnly.

            The students moved grudgingly towards the door.

            "Excuse me, pardon me, coming through, hey! watch the boots!" Buffy's voice rose about the students' as she carried Parvati out of the Hall. She stopped when she reached Draco and looked over at Willow. "See?" she said and the witch nodded, surprise written all over her face.

            "What?" Draco asked, folding his arms. "You both look like you've seen a ghost."

            Willow simply shook her head as she left. 

            Behind Draco, Ginny was hastily throwing her book bag over her shoulder. "Well, I guess I won't be needing these." she griped as she headed for the door. 

            Hermoine caught her arm. "What are you talking about, Ginny?" she asked. "You're not going anywhere except to Muggle Defense."

            Draco rolled his eyes. "What breakfast were you at, Granger?" he asked sarcastically. "Once the school finds out Ginny's the one Voldemort was talking about, she'll be lucky to -"

            "Thank you for that, Draco." Harry cut in. "But nobody knows it's Ginny. And for all we know, he could be bluffing." He patted Ginny's arm. "Don't worry, Gin. You don't have to go anywhere."

            Ginny shook him off. "You really are naive, Harry." she spat. "If you think that people aren't going to put it together that it's me, or that Voldemort won't raise the castle, then you obviously haven't learned anything from the past couple of years."

            Harry's eyes blazed with fury. "Of course I have!" he yelled. "I've learned that Voldemort will manipulate you and use you with lies specifically tailored to your weaknesses." He grabbed Ginny by the shoulders. "He's using your history together and you're care for your fellow students to force you to his side. And we don't even know why!"

            "Does it matter why?" she yelled back, pushing off his arms. "What really matters," she growled, "is that everyone here is in danger unless I go through with Draco's plan. I don't have a choice in this, Harry. All I can do is make sure he thinks that I've joined him willingly and then divert his attention away from Hogwart's for as long as I can." 

            Ron paled. "And have you thought about what 'distracting' him will entail?" he asked, disgusted. "Think about mum and dad, and what they'd say if they knew you were going to do something this daft!" 

            "I have been thinking." Ginny replied. Closing her eyes, she added quietly: "It's a small price to pay for keeping people I love safe."

            The four others gawked. 

"You can't be serious!" Hermoine exclaimed. 

"Gross!" cried Ron. 

"I think I'm going to be ill." Harry moaned.

"Didn't think you had it in you!" Draco said, grinning. "To be that stupid, I mean." he hastily amended off his new housemate's looks.

Ginny glared. "Look, you're not going to stop me, so why not just let me go quietly?" 

"Off to play the martyr, _Virginia_." came Pansy Parkinson's voice from the top of the stairs. The thin crowds of students nearby were all silent.

Ginny whipped around. "What did you say, Parkinson?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

Pansy smiled sweetly. "What? Did you think we wouldn't figure it out? You're the one He-Who-Must-Not-Be -Named is looking for. You know what he wants and yet you're selfishly hiding out here, trying to pretend that it'll be your fault if we die." She pointed a pudgy finger at Ginny, who was vibrating with rage. "You don't belong here anymore; you belong with Him. For the greater good!" she cried. 

"Get her!" someone cried, and Ginny suddenly found herself ducking hands and throwing punches, trying to get out of the crowd.

"Stop it!" Ginny yelled. "I was going to anyway!"

"Sure you were." came an anonymous reply, as more hands and bodies pressed into her.

Ginny growled with frustration, and sent everyone in front of her flying with one huge push. "I said I'm going!" she hollered. "I'm leaving Hogwart's so you can all just back off, right now!"

Students stood around, murmuring their agreement. 

Ginny turned back to Harry. "Didn't I tell you?" she asked. "This is why I have to go."

The other four Gryffindors were silent, none able to look her in the eye. 

"I'll see you when I get back." Ginny said quietly as she walked away. 

A/N: Phew! That makes this the seventh version of Chapter Eight. Seriously, if anyone wants to be my beta, either sign in or leave a link to your work. I seriously need to get these plot holes under control! 

As usual, let me know what you think. There's a 4 review minimum to get my muse's butt in gear!


	9. The Devil and Agent Weasley

Chapter 9: The Devil and Agent Weasley.

Phew! Finally! Sorry for the delays, people. I resisted the temptation to keep going with this story and actually got a few assignments done. As you can probably see, I've re-uploaded every chapter to reflect the Spike-Draco parallel and omit characters that aren't really going to fit into what I have planned. 

And now, to answer my adoring public (cheesy grin):

**ChaliceInnana****: Ah the Gin and Tonic: the dark supership of the Potterverse. As for Lucius: He's going to get a bit of comeuppance in the next chapter or two. Mwahaha!  However, I've said for a couple chapters now that this story will contain slash, bit it does serve a very important purpose. The way I'm going with this is Ginny and Tom will be the romance heading the Dark Side and Draco and Harry will be the couple on the Light Side. There's not much difference; in fact, which couple would you say has the healthier relationship?**

**ennui**** deMorte: This will contain some quality angst (or as close as I can get to it), but Dru will definitely come to the comedic rescue. I can't give it away right now, but think about the reaction Dru would have to someone with bleach blonde hair. Heh heh. Poor...Gah! Can't. Say!**

**Aliesha****: **Gosh. Thanks! I tried to keep that as light as possible. Glad you liked it. Oh, and yes. You'll get your Sn-uffy.

**Amy: Thanks! Here's the next chapter! **

**Deadly Fate: I'm blushing!**

One last little thing before you proceed: This chapter has violence against canon characters in it, but I've agreed to the Snape-Buffy, so never fear. 

Now you can read.

Ginny made her way further from the Great Hall. Slowly, the noise from the disbanding rabble faded until the sounds of her fellow students was a mere dull roar. It was only then that she indulged herself and sank, sobbing silently, to the ground. 'Why me?' she thought miserably to herself, tears streaming down her cheeks. 'Out of all the girls in the wizarding world, why did he have to choose me?' She shook violently as another mute cry went through her and rested her head against her folded knees.

            "Hey. Are you alright?" came a girl's voice. 

Startled, Ginny whipped her head up and glared. "Go away." she growled.

The girl backed up a step. "Whoa. It's okay. I saw what they did to you back there, and you look like you could use a friend right about now." The girl hesitantly offered her hand. "I'm Dawn."

Ginny sniffed and blushed. "Sorry." she said simply, shaking the girl's hand. "I'm Ginny. And this is the worst day of my life."

"I'm feeling that." Dawn sat down beside her on the stone floor. "So, you barely escaped a lynching, huh? What did you do? Nothing serious, right?"

Ginny chuckled bitterly. "Well, nothing more serious than almost bring the Dark Lord to life by feeding the memory of his 16 year old self my soul in the pages of his diary. That apparently makes me his soul mate or something."

Dawn nodded, unfazed. "So, close encounters with the Big Bad, huh?" she said. "I know a little something about that. The first boy I liked: vampire. The first boy I kissed: different vampire. It's like this gene in my family to go for the bad guys."

Ginny looked tiredly over at Dawn. "Wait. You're Buffy's sister, right? I would've put it together earlier but, you know..."

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, I do and yeah, I am. We're the Summers girls. Have stakes, will travel." she said, grinning. 

"So, your sister is a Slayer?" Ginny asked and Dawn nodded. "Did she ever have to do this sort of thing? Go undercover?" she looked up hopefully but Dawn shook her head.

  "Unless you're looking to save a teen hangout from your evil vampire Doppelganger, I don't think I have any stories to tell you." She squared her jaw, and put on her best Watcher face. "So, you're in a bad situation. Why not focus on what you can work with? I mean, this guy has to have at least one weakness."

"You may be right." Ginny mused. "He can't hurt me, so that's one thing in my favour. And he doesn't look like the guy I fell for anymore, so I won't be distracted by how incredibly good looking he was." She rolled her eyes at Dawn. "According to my friend Harry, he just looks like a giant dried up snake-worm."

Dawn made a face. "Ugh. We had those back in Sunnydale; they ran for mayor."

Ginny laughed slightly before continuing. "So, he's a giant snake thing who can hurt me and whose followers are all in prison. That isn't really well guarded. And he has my family rat at his right hand. And one of his followers killed a friend of mine. Urgh!" Ginny groaned. "I can't do this!"

Dawn frowned. "It doesn't look like you have a choice, Ginny." she said softly. "So we know all these things about him and his situation. Where's the weakness?" 

Ginny furrowed her brow. "Since I have to guess, I'll say it's in his followers. As far as I know, it's only him, Wormtail, and Bellatrix Lestrange. Three people do not an army make." She looked up suddenly. "I can work with that."

"How?" Dawn asked. 

Ginny smirked. "I lived with two trouble-making twins for 15 years; I learned a thing or two about misdirecting attention while the real fireworks are happening. If I can convince each of them that the others are plotting against them, I could cause a real mess." She grinned mischievously. "Divide and conquer." 

Dawn grinned back. "I think you've got a plan there, Ginny." she said happily.

Ginny stood up. "Yeah. I can. I'm just going to get to Riddle House, screw with some heads, and come home." She helped Dawn to her feet and brushed a cobweb off her shoulder. "This time next week, I just know I'll be wondering what I was so worried about."

Dawn beamed at her new friend. "That's the spirit. Now, you get on out of here and show that scaly loser what a Slayer can do." 

Ginny hugged Dawn quickly. "Thanks for the encouragement. I really needed to hear it." 

Dawn squeezed back. "Anytime." She broke the hug and nodded toughly. "Go kick his ass."

                                                                                                *

"Come in, Ms. Weasley." Snape bellowed when Ginny reached his office. 

            Ginny shrugged as she entered the Potion Master's office. Jars of dead animals and flasks of putrid sludge lined the walls, but she barely noticed. "I'm ready, Sir." she said. "Let's go."

            Snape raised an eyebrow from behind the stack of papers he was grading. "Are you sure you're ready for this, Ms. Weasley?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

            Ginny scowled. "Well, it doesn't look like I have a choice." she snapped.

            Snape affixed an F to the last essay he was marking and stood. "Be that as it may, you should still be prepared for what will happen at Riddle House." he drawled. "Do you know what you're going to do once you get there? Or what you'll be expected to do in order to maintain you're cover?"

            Ginny swallowed but was otherwise silent. 

            Snape sniffed in disdain. "It's as I thought. You probably imagine this as some silly game, that you'll somehow just waltz into the Dark Lord's lair and what? You'll have tea and crumpets?" He rose and walked stiffly to the front of his desk to tower over Ginny. "I've been a double agent since before you were born, girl, so listen well to what I'm going to tell you. Voldemort is no fool. He knows that you won't want to be there and he knows that you'll feel like a prisoner. He enjoys that kind of power. He enjoys inflicting suffering on anyone and everyone, even those closest to him. I've seen Death Eaters tortured for merely thinking about wanting to sit down at meetings. This is not a 'happy place' you'll be going to.'

"I don't know what specific plans he has for you once you get there, but you had better just nodded demurely and do what he says or you will be killed. It won't matter that you're a Slayer and seemingly immune to his magic if you anger him; his physical strength has been growing by the day since he used the diary to restore himself."

            "You mean, he looks like Tom Riddle again?" Ginny interjected. 

            Snape nodded, scowling at her interruption. "Officially, it was to regain any power that might still be in the book, but we all knew it was because he couldn't stand looking the way he did any longer."

            "So, he's powerful _and _he looks just the way he did in the Chamber." She laughed bitterly. "Is there anything else I should know?"

            Snape regarded her coolly. "Only that he recently struck up a partnership with a lady vampire from America. She claims to have powers, Second Sight or some nonsense. Nuttier than Trelawney, that one, but strong." Snape smirked. "The other day, she tossed Wormtail around the room for touching one of her dolls, and then started wailing about angels." He shook his head, not willing to waste time on deciphering the rantings of a mad woman.

            "Right. He's strong, he's gorgeous, and he's got an insane and powerful vampire at his right hand." Ginny groaned. "This could not get any worse."

            Snape scowled. "Ms. Weasley, there are plenty of people in the world who have experienced worse than this for years, if not their entire lives. If you want to whine, then go ahead; just be silent about it. On the other hand, you can look at it this way: you have a tremendous opportunity at your fingertips." He looked at her briefly and shook his head in wonder. "I've never seen Voldemort pursue anyone like he's been pursuing you. If you're right about his possibly having feelings for you, then I suggest that you use this to make him weak. If he's blinded by emotions, he's more likely to make mistakes, ones which we can push him towards." Snape folded his arms. "You have the opportunity to destroy him from within. Are you going to take it?"

            Ginny clenched her jaw and looked the Potions Master in the eye. 

"Yes."

                                                                        *                                                                      

            And so it come to be that with a nod, a portkey, and a lot of awkward silence later, Ginny found herself in Voldemort's study at Riddle House. She paced the room, stopping occasionally to admire some trivial thing before resuming her march. It was beginning to get on Snape's nerves.

            "Ms. Weasley, if you don't stop and sit somewhere, I swear I'll put a full Body Bind on you." he said, folding his arms with an unnatural degree of force.

            Ginny ignored his comments. "So, when do you think he'll come?" she asked, pacing in front of a wall that was lined with books about dark magic. She stopped to examine the shelf closest to her and ran a finger down the spine of a thick volume on painful jinxes. 

            Snape grabbed her hand and gently directed it away from the books. "Those are worth more than you'll see in a lifetime, child. Anyways, he won't know we're here unless I announce us, or he decides to catch up on his reading." Snape smiled humourlessly. 

            Ginny nodded absently and breezed him to the fireplace. "So, I take it he doesn't spend a lot of time in here." she supposed, running her hand along the edge of the sculpted dark green marble. 

            "Actually, this is where Death Eater meetings have been held since he took possession of the house. That sword behind the desk was the portkey to Hogwart's" Snape supplied. "At least, that was the case until recently."

            "The attack on the Ministry." Ginny murmured, closing her eyes. Suddenly, she turned to face him. "I'm scared, Professor." she admitted quietly. 

            "I know." he replied softly. "You're going to have a rough time."

            Ginny nodded gravely. "The way I act, the things I'm going to have to do..." she faltered briefly. "I apologize now for anything and everything."

Snape raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps came to her heightened senses. "Here we go." she whispered. Biting her lip, she motioned for Snape to stand to her right, beside the desk. He eyed her questioningly, but obeyed. Ginny sat herself down in the plush desk chair and schooled her features into a look of studied boredom. 'Game face, Weasley.' she thought. 'You're on.'    

The study door opened without a sound and the room was suddenly flooded with light. Tom stood in the doorway, arms crossed, and a very smug look on his face.

The bottom dropped straight out of Ginny's stomach. Standing before her was the exact embodiment every waking thought and every subconscious nightmare she had had for the past five years. Each minute detail was the same: he stood the same six feet, his hair was still styled the exact way it had been in the Chamber, and his thin lips were stretched in the same cruel smile as the last time she had seen him. But then, he had only been a memory and somewhat translucent. Now, he was flesh and blood, the very real incarnation of the chaotic mix of emotions that filled her each time someone mentioned him, and his hungry smile  was sending chills down her spine that had nothing to do with fear.

            "Virginia, how lovely of you to drop by." he said pleasantly.  

Ginny blinked and willed herself to speak. "Hello, Tom." she said smugly. "Surprised to see me?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "I see you've made yourself at home."

            Ginny ran her fingers slowly up and down the armrest. "Well, I see myself staying here for some time, so I figured I might as well get comfortable." she said before rising gracefully from the chair and standing beside it. "But now that you're here, I'll return this to its rightful owner. 

            "A theme today, I'm sure." he murmured as he advanced to stand mere inches from her. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting you for some time." he said, concentration etched in his features as his eyes met hers. 

            Ginny shrugged. "I didn't see the point in delaying the inevitable." she replied.

            Tom narrowed his eyes but gave up with a small, disappointed sigh. "Well, what matters is that you're here. At long last." He took Ginny's hand. "Such soft skin. I regret not being able to appreciate it fully the last time we met." he murmured as he gently pressed his warm lips to her fingers.

            Ginny blushed. "Tom!" she said, not entirely feigning embarrassment. "In front of him?" She nodded towards Professor Snape, who seemed utterly fascinated by the floor.

            Tom's smile tightened slightly but he released Ginny's hand. "You're quite right. We should be doing such things in front of a traitor. Severus." he called in a chilling singsong. "You forgot your Pensieve today." He turned from Ginny and glared at his Death Eater.          

The professor's head snapped up, but if he was afraid, he was doing an excellent job of disguising it. "I'm sorry, my Lord?" he said, brow furrowing.

            "Don't deny it!" Tom roared. "You were so eager to get her to me that you forgot to empty your mind of those filthy, traitorous thoughts that you have apparently been hiding from me." He pounded the desk. "For years, you have been spying for that worthless old shell! For years, you have looked me in the face and lied to me! For years, you have helped that miserable brat Potter to ruin my plans! No more!" His livid gaze held Snape's for a moment longer until suddenly, he whipped around to face Ginny. "Is it true?" he snarled. "Are you two really working for Dumbledore?"

            Ginny called up all her anger at Tom to replace her fear and fired back. "Of course not! His thoughts lie!" she shouted, "I only came here with him because I didn't know how to get here on my own." She leaned in closer as she become more vehement. "I left Hogwart's of my own free will; you just provided me with a timely excuse! I'm sick of everyone either ignoring me or treating me like some bloody porcelain doll. I'm sick of everyone thinking that I'm some incompetent waif who can't handle the real world. And I'm sick of everyone yelling!" she screamed. That out, she took a calming breath and continued at a much lower decibel. "I thought I could help you take revenge on those blundering idiots at Hogwart's but if you don't trust me, then so be it." She turned on her heel and was about to the fireplace and the floo powder when Tom pulled her back.

            "Prove it!" he growled. "Kill him, and I will know you are truly loyal to me." He released her roughly and turned to the wall behind his desk. "Wingardium Leviosa." he commanded sharply, and a long ornamented sword floated to a stop in front of Ginny. "Do it, or I swear I'll kill you as well."    

Ginny gripped the weapon and glared at Tom. "If this is what it will take," she snarled before walking over to where Professor Snape was standing, still doing an admirable job of concealing his fear. She searched his eyes, and hoped hers conveyed how sorry she was. She gripped his shoulder with her free hand. "You never should have betrayed us." she growled, before shoving the blade into his stomach.

            Snape's eyes bulged and he emitted a feeble groan before collapsing to the carpet, hands gripping the hilt of the sword. Ginny stood over him with her back to Tom. "I'm sorry." she mouthed painfully, before smoothing her features and turning back to Tom. "Will that do?" she asked tersely. 

            Tom frowned. "You missed the heart." he answered coldly, looking past her to where Snape lay bleeding on the carpet. "And the head."

            Ginny held her ground. "I meant to. Don't you think that would be far too quick a death for scum like him?" She gestured behind her to where Snape lay, panting heavily on the carpet. "He turned his back on you. This way, he'll have time to think about what he's done as he bleeds to death."

            Tom's frown changed slowly into a look of dark desire. "That's my girl." he whispered huskily before pulling Ginny into his embrace and passionately kissing her. 

            "Look at this, Miss Edith." 

            Tom pulled back slowly and rested his forehead against Ginny's. "Drusilla." he growled, turning to look at her. "You had better have a good reason for interrupting me." Arm still wrapped around a stunned Ginny's waist, he turned them both to the door of the study, where a tall and darkly beautiful woman stood cuddling a porcelain doll.

            "I was hungry." she began, flicking a finger over her lips. "So I went down to the cellar to eat. But as I was going down the stairs, I could hear the most beautiful voices." She gasped and stared off into space. "And they told me you were happy again. So happy that the last piece of the puzzle had come home to the box." She turned to Ginny, the same dazed look on her face. "Such pretty fire, such a power. She's just what you need, my Lord. She's come to set everything right again." Dru snapped back into reality (or as close as she could get to it) and came to stand in front of Ginny. "Do you like stories, little one? Songs? My mummy used to tell me a story every night but then Daddy came and she wouldn't say a word to me." Dru whimpered and stroked her doll harshly. "All dead all dead, no one to look after." she whispered. "But you," she said, turning back to Ginny. "You're so alive, so beautiful, so _effulgent. Do you want to stay this way?"_

            Ginny stared at the woman, horrified and leaned slightly more into Tom's arms.

            Tom exhaled crossly and removed his arm from Ginny's side. "Dru, do try and remember our arrangement" he said patronizingly. "You can eat all the villagers you want, but touch any of my followers and I'll throw you out at high noon." He lifted her chin up with his index finger so they locked eyes. "Is that clear?"

            Dru nodded distractedly, her gaze wandering. Suddenly, her eyes went wide. "The voices didn't tell me the little puzzle piece brought a treat!" she said excitedly, vamp face sweeping over her features as she lunged for Snape.

            Ginny swore silently and, reacting faster than she thought possible, threw herself at Dru and rolled her to the side. "Oh no you don't!" she grunted as she pinned Dru underneath her. The two rolled along the carpet until Drusilla careened into the desk with a thud, allowing Ginny to claim the upper hand once more. Ginny stared down at the woman beneath her. "What's wrong with your face?" she asked, sickened.

            Dru giggled madly and her face returned to normal. "Puzzle piece is a mean little thing, isn't she?" Dru laughed, and then frowned when she couldn't throw Ginny's weight off. "Bad puzzle piece! Mummy wants to stand up again."

            Ginny glared. "Would you stop calling me that?" she asked tersely. "My name is Virginia."

            "Yes it is, puzzle piece." Dru answered mockingly.

            Ginny growled. "Say my name!" she yelled, digging her knees into Dru's shoulders.

            "Ow ow ow." the vampire winced. "Bad Ginny! I think I shall be very cross with you when I get up again."

            "Close enough." Ginny sighed as she stood. Dru followed her after she retrieved Miss Edith from under the desk.

            Tom was standing over them, looking very amused. "I was hoping she would call you 'puzzle piece' again." he murmured. Then he shook his head. "But business before pleasure. Tell me Dru: what puzzle has Virginia come to solve?"

            Dru rubbed the sides of her head. "All locked up in that terrible place." she whimpered. "And the bad man won't take the evil eye off them. Don't sleep. Don't eat. Don't think." She looked hatefully at Ginny. "All because of your friends."

            "Not anymore." Ginny said, darkly.

            Dru raised an eyebrow but continued. "Too many of them, like bees. Bzz! They'll swallow us all up if we attack the nest. Bzz! Need to think they're still safe." She buzzed over to Ginny and took her hand. "But she can stick her hands right into the honey -" Dru jerked their hands out for effect, "- and they would never know. Not until it was too late." She dragged Ginny around the room, buzzing like a demented bumblebee. 

            Ginny shot a confused look at Tom, but he only shrugged. "Just let her go." he mouthed. Ginny nodded and tried to go along with Dru's erratic swirls. 

            "There we go." she said lightly as she replaced Ginny by Tom's side. She stepped back and admired them as one would admire a picture; a picture of two very exasperated people. "Everything's right again." She clapped her hands and turned to Tom. "So, when's the picnic?"

            "We attack tonight." he replied. "Unless, of course, Virginia can provide us with a reason not to." Dru and Tom looked expectantly at Ginny, who swallowed imperceptibly. 

Ginny smiled maliciously. "Of course not, my lord. Nothing would make me happier than to see you at your full strength again, surrounded by your devoted followers." She glanced up seductively. "Just tell me what do to." 

Tom's gaze traveled Ginny up and down slowly before he replied. "As you've probably assumed, I've been planning this for some time. However, each scenario I come up with ultimately leads to unacceptable casualties." His consternation faded as he brought himself back to the present. "But I didn't have you before. You see, Virginia, I know the value of subtlety. I know when it is appropriate to use a certain amount of discretion in order to achieve my ends. What I need you to do is use your connections within the Order of the Phoenix to infiltrate the prison and deliver these to my devoted." He turned to the desk and withdrew a dozen wands from the top drawer. "You will ask to see the prisoners - the details of your excuse are up to you - and when the time is right, leave a wand near the Death Eater. I won't risk you being hurt or killed in the crossfire, so I've made sure the wands won't work for half an hour after you leave them in the cell." Ginny smiled appreciatively. 

"So after I've seen all the prisoners, I just walk right back out again?" she asked.

Tom nodded. "You will join me in the forest surrounding the prison and we will guard a portkey until my followers have escaped. Make sure you find a way to communicate that to them, especially Lucius." He sighed nostalgically. "He was the most vicious of my men. I miss his presence here." 

Ginny swallowed the bile that had been steadily building in her throat since the beginning of the plan. "I'll take special care to make sure he gets out, my lord." she said dutifully. 

Tom's eyes gleamed and Dru clapped in delight. He gestured sharply for Dru to leave as he swept Ginny up in another passionate embrace. "Such a gift." he whispered before claiming her lips once more. 

            Dru cooed as she turned and walked out the door. "Watch them closely, Miss Edith. They're going to rule the world." 

I don't expect everyone to review, JUST YOU. Do your part to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.


	10. Save Yourself

Chapter 10: Save Yourself.

**Dannii: I have a Dark!Ginny plotbunny all ready to go; maybe I should post it, eh? And thanks! **

**ennui deMorte: Glad to know Dru's coming through with the comedy. **

**Aliesha: I love that dance. ^_^ You'll see what I meant about Snape soon. Heh. I'm so evil. Mwahaha!**

**Amelle: *bows* Thank you, thank you. ******

Warning: Swearing and Snape-style snark ahead. Also, one of my theories about life is "Men are easily distracted by sex." You'll see what I mean soon.   

"Hogwart's!"

            Tom and Ginny whirled around together just in time to see Professor Snape, who had been inching his way to the fireplace, disappear in a ball of green flame.

            "No!" Tom screamed, charging over to the fireplace. "Vedivicite!" he roared at the fireplace, but Snape was gone. Trembling with rage, he turned to Ginny, who was staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the fireplace. "You let him escape." he growled. 

            Ginny swallowed quickly and snapped her gaze up to meet Tom's. "He doesn't matter." she said coldly. "So, he goes back to the school. He won't - "

            Ginny barely ducked in time as Tom threw the jar of floo powder against the wall behind Ginny's head. "He was supposed to die, Virginia!" he howled. "You were supposed to make sure of that!"

             "It's not my fault!" she screamed, grabbing an inkwell off the desk and launching it at the fireplace. 

Tom moved just in time and it shattered against the mantle. "How hard could it possibly be to kill someone with a disabled portkey?" he yelled, storming across the room and grabbing her wrist. "I'm beginning to doubt your true allegiances again, Virginia." he growled, inches from her face.

            Ginny easily shook free from Tom's grip and stood a few steps away, livid. "Get a hold of yourself!" she seethed. "If I were still loyal to that doddering old fool, then I couldn't have stabbed him in the first place! Think about it! If I had really been sent here undercover, then I would've just stabbed my only link to my supposed home base!" She took a step towards him and jabbed her index finger into his chest. "I hate Hogwart's and everyone in it! And I'd skewer the greasy ass again, if I had to!" she said, pent-up anger at the whole situation adding fuel to her words. "Give me those wands and I'll prove my loyalty. Again!" She looked searchingly into his furious face and turned away, exhaling harshly. Then, the key to calming him clicked in her head and she turned slowly around, tentatively taking the final step to where Tom was standing. "You're all I've got now, can't you see that?" she whispered desperately. "I can't afford to betray you." She took his balled fists in her hands. "I want to be here, with you." she murmured as she kissed each of his fingers and blew softly on his white knuckles before lifting her eyes to his face.

            He was staring down at her, his face a war between angry incredulity and hopeful desire. "If you are genuine," he said thickly. "then you will bring my Death Eaters home to me, each and every one of them." He slowly withdrew his hands from hers and picked up the wands. "Go now." he ordered quietly, handing them to her. "I'll be along shortly with the portkey." 

            Ginny nodded grimly and deposited the wands inside her robes. "You won't be disappointed." she said before turning to leave.

            "I hope not." he whispered as she left. "For both of our sakes."

*

            "I'm going to kill that bitch! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!" Harry yelled, throwing himself into a sharp dive, pulling up at the last possible second, and repeating the process. The whole thing was quite annoying Draco.

            "I can't carry on a conversation with you if you keep doing that!" Draco called to the other boy. He and Harry had decided to take their lunch hour and spend it flying around the Quidditch patch, both to practice and to cool off. Thankfully, the field was empty; the teams would not start practicing until the next week.

            Harry pulled to an abrupt stop beside Draco. "Seriously, would it be such a loss to the world if Parkinson decided to throw herself from the Astronomy tower?" he groused. 

            Draco shook his head. "You're just angry because she forced Ginny to do what you couldn't." He let go of his Nimbus 2001 and sat up, cracking his back. "You know she would've gone anyway."

            "What?" Harry cried. "You can't be serious. She would not have gone willingly to that psychopath!" 

            Draco raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever listened to the way she talks about him? How many times she's called him 'Tom' instead of 'Voldemort' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'?" Draco shook his head sadly. "She still sees the boy in the book."

            Harry was suspicious. "And you've gleaned this from the 24 hours you've known her?" he asked, brow furrowing.

            Draco shrugged. "Maybe I'm just more observant than you are." he replied bluntly. "I believe Granger made reference to Ron having the emotional range of a teaspoon and you not noticing the fact that she's a girl." he teased. 

            Harry shifted on his broom. "Well, I um...there are reasons...for that." he finished lamely.

            Draco smirked. "Oh, don't I know that." he said, leering at Harry.

            The dark-haired boy smiled shyly. "Here?" he asked, looking around the open air.

            The ex-Slytherin shook his head. "Follow me." he said enigmatically before diving sharply. Harry followed immediately and soon found himself dismounting and being held against the underside of the Gryffindor bleachers.

"I've always wanted to try this." Draco purred, pulling Harry close against him and seizing his mouth into a searing kiss. 

            "Oy! Harry! Where you at? Come on out, mate! "

            The boys jumped back as if struck by lightening. "That was close." Harry muttered, picking up his Firebolt.

            "We're over here!" Draco replied, already starting down the pitch to the redhead. 

            "What is it, Ron?" Harry asked, seeing the panicked look on his best friend's face. 

            "You'd better come quick, guys." Ron said, shaking. "It's Snape."

*

            "Miss Summers! Will you stop hovering and let me do my job!" snapped Madame Pomphrey as the three boys entered the infirmary.

            Buffy backed off but kept craning her neck over the taller Mediwitch. "I just want to know if he's going to be okay." she asked impatiently. 

            The Meditwitch frowned. "Well, if you would just give me room to do my job, we'd know in a moment." 

            Harry, Ron, and Draco inched silently into the bed area. None of them dared say a word as they watched Madame Pomphrey muttering spells and pouring potions. Seemingly oblivious, Buffy watched intently as the Mediwitch did her best to revive the still figure on the bed. The boys squinted, each trying to get a better look. 

"I can't see a thing." Harry whispered

"Neither can I." Draco answered. "How can we even be sure that's Snape?" he asked suspiciously.

Ron was about to hiss a scathing reply when suddenly, Madame Pomphrey moved to the other side of the bed and all three boys gasped. 

            The Potions Master lay almost completely still on the bed, his haggard face covered in soot. His usual billowing robes had been stripped away, and the pallor of his naked chest seemed to accentuate the deep red rivers of drying blood that left sickening trails down his side. It was only the extremely shallow rise and fall of the man's chest that gave any indication that he was in deed alive at all.

            "Merlin..." Ron whimpered. "He's not....is he?"

            Madame Pomphrey's head shot up from her ministrations to glare at the Gryffindors but she had no time to reprimand them and went back to her work.

            "No, he's not." Buffy answered dully, never taking her worried eyes off the Professor. "Apparently he's stable; it just looks worse than it really is."

            Harry was the first to regain the ability to speak. "Wh-what h-happened?" he winced, unable to tear his gaze away from the gaping wound.

            Buffy bit her lip slightly as she followed Harry's gaze. "I don't know." she said quietly. "I was in the staff room getting some supplies when all of a sudden, there was a really loud crash.  I turned around and there he was, just lying there in the fireplace." She stroked the back of his hand. "I carried him here as fast as I could, but he hasn't regained consciousness; it's been half an hour." 

            Ron nodded slowly. "Hermoine and I were on our way out to look for you guys when Professor Summers came running by." he said, mouth dry. "She took off without saying anything. I think she went to get Dumbledore." He turned to Harry and Draco. "I didn't know what else to do."

            Madame Pomphrey sighed as she waved her wand over the comatose professor. "He could wake anytime." she said, putting a calming hand on Buffy's shoulder. "You need to get to your classes, _all of you._" she added, looking sternly down at Harry, Ron, and Draco.

            The three Gryffindors nodded and Buffy was about to follow them when Snape groaned. Instantly, everyone was at his bedside, anxiously looking down at him. "What are you all looking at?" he groaned.

            Everyone let out the breaths they had been holding. "Are you okay, Professor?" Draco asked urgently. 

            Snape groaned again. "Do I look 'okay' to you, Mr. Malfoy?" he snapped. 

            "Merlin, what happened to you?" Ron blurted out.

            Madame Pomphrey glared sharply at him. "Honestly, Mr. Weasley. The man is barely conscious and you start -"

            "It was Ginny."

            Everyone froze. 

            Buffy stared, wide eyed. "Oh my God. What happened?" 

            "Voldemort. He knew." he groaned. "She had to, or he would kill her as well..."

            Draco paled. "You were her only connection to us." he murmured.

Ron's hand flew to his mouth. "She...she..." He took a deep, calming breath. "Merlin, she must be so scared." 

            "Not enough to refrain from practically snogging him to death." Snape muttered bitterly.

            "No." Harry stepped quickly away from the group and retched into a basin on one of the other nightstands. Draco was instantly at his side, stroking his back. "It's alright. You couldn't have known." he murmured soothingly.

            Ron gaze wavered between looking helplessly at Harry and glaring at Snape. "You're lying." he ground out. "There's no way my sister would do that."

            Harry swallowed the cup of water Draco handed him and set it down shakily. "I felt it, Ron." Harry said, weakly. "She and Vold...oh God..." Harry retched again, and it was only his well-trained Seeker reflexes that saved Draco from being covered in bile. 

            Ron stared in mute horror at his friend. "He and Ginny...they didn't..." He couldn't finish. 

            Snape rolled his eyes. "Not yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if - " 

            Buffy clamped a hand over Snape's mouth, much to his impotent fury. "I think that's enough out of you." she said, glaring.

            Harry groaned again and Madame Pomphrey tuttered nervously as she got him another glass of water. "Here, then. Drink up Mr. Potter." she said soothingly. "Nice and easy, that's it." 

            "Can I ask a dumb question?" Buffy ventured. "How can you feel what Voldemort is feeling? Is it some magic thing that I don't know about or what?"

            Draco looked over at her, still rubbing circles on Harry's tired back. "It's his scar. Voldemort tried to kill him when he was a baby, but it backfired." He looked at the other boy proudly. "He's the only person in history to survive the Killing Curse. Anyway, it connects them somehow, and ever since Voldemort's been getting stronger, Harry's been feeling it whenever he gets angry or excited." He winced, blushing at the unintentional double entendre.

            "Oh." Buffy was stunned. "Sorry I asked." 

            Snape cleared his throat and glared at the Slayer. Buffy rolled her eyes and removed her hand. "I wasn't finished." he said impatiently. 

            "Yes, Severus. Please continue." 

            Dumbledore glided in the infirmary with a worried Hermoine right on his heels. 

            "Thank you, Professor. There is going to be an attack on Azkaban tonight." Snape announced bluntly.

            Everyone stopped and stared for a second time.

            "The Death Eaters!" cried Hermoine. 

            "Mollly and Arthur!" added Madame Pomphrey.

            "Molly and Arthur once the Death Eaters get out!" Ron shrieked. He looked wildly at the Head Master. "What are we going to do?" 

            Dumbledore thought for a minute. "I guess the only solution is to pull them off duty tonight. They can trade shifts with Tonks and Alastor Moody." He sighed. "I won't ask them to extract their own daughter, especially if she's under Voldemort's influence." 

            Ron leapt to his feet. "How are you going to let them know? Owl? I can send off the message right now." He searched frantically around the nightstand. "Just let me find a piece of parchment and a quill." he muttered. 

            Dumbledore held up his hand. "That won't be necessary, Mr. Weasley." he said gently. "I have ways of contacting the Order, ones that aren't as vulnerable to interception." 

            Ron stopped his search reluctantly. "But you'll do it soon, right?" he asked. "My parents need to know." 

            "Of course, Mr. Weasley." the Head Master said gently. "But I need to hear the entire account before I compose the details of my message. Severus?"

            Snape nodded, and proceeded to recount the morning's events. "I had just enough energy to send myself to Hogwart's before passing out." He turned and scowled weakly at Buffy. "Why the fates saw fit send me to you is beyond me." 

            Buffy returned the glare in full force, before turning to Dumbledore. "So what do we do now?" she asked. 

            "I will send word to Molly and Arthur." he replied. "It won't be easy, but they need to know what has happened since Ginny left. They need to be prepared." 

            "Tell them to be especially careful around pointed objects." Snape called sarcastically as Dumbledore left. 

            Ron turned around to tower over Snape. "Keep your mouth shut, you greasy git!" he roared. 

            "Oh, boy." Draco muttered nervously.

            Even with a hole in his side and a phenomenal amount of blood loss (or perhaps because of it), Snape still managed to look incredibly menacing. "Your succubus of a sister just skewered me, Mr. Weasley." Snape replied, voice steadily becoming more threatening.

            Ron seethed. "She saved your life!"

            "By nearly ending it. Or did you just enjoy that part?" Snape spat. "10 points from Gryffindor." he smarmed. 

            "Maybe I would have if she had just cut off your head!" Ron yelled back. 

            Snape sneered. "She just might if her _lover _orders her to. 20 points" 

            Ron's eye twitched and his face turned a shade of purple that Harry thought only his uncle could pull off. "Why you...!" he choked.

            Buffy stepped in between Snape and Ron. "Hey! She saved you - don't forget that, no matter what condition you're in now." she lectured to Snape. Then she turned to Ron. "But Ginny has done something really serious. It's going to affect who she is." Buffy finished seriously. Ron backed off and shoved his hands in his pockets, but fixed his glare on the Potions master, who ignored him.

            Hermoine cleared her throat. "Shouldn't we be working on a way to get her away from Voldemort?" she asked the group. 

            Draco shook his head. "He may come through on his promise and burn this place down." he said bluntly. "If he thinks we did it, then his first stop would most likely be Hogwart's and we're right back where we started at breakfast."

            The group was silent for a minute as they tried to work out other solutions. Everyone, that is, except Snape, who was still nursing his pride. 'Honestly. Stabbed by a little girl.' he thought miserably.

Finally, Buffy broke the silence. "I guess we really might have to leave her there. But just for now." she said, looking apologetically around the group. 

            No one said a word. 

A/N: about the portkey: For the purposes of this story, Voldemort stopped calling Snape to him after he found out he could get to Harry through the dreams. He had no immediate need to get reports from the Hogwart's spy, so his portkey was deactivated. Does that make a little more sense now? 

As usual, if you liked that, please leave a review after the beep. 

BEEEEP! 


	11. The Price of Freedom

Chapter 11 - The Price of Freedom

Oy veh.I had a nightmare last night that her Rowlingness (may it be praised and profitable) was suing me, so I hereby renew my disclaimer that this fic is not meant as an infringement; I don't own anything (but if she'd like to lend Tom to me for a weekend, that would be great); and I will never see a Knut in profits from this little fanwank. Got it? Okay! Now, on to more pleasant tasks!

**ennui**** deMorte: I tried to make Snape the unintentional mood-lightener in that scene. I think his brooding sarcasm and Buffy's wry take on life are going to get along very well, don't you think? **

**Dannii: The plot bunny is up! Check out "Shackles Are a Girl's Best Friend" for my attempt at a semi-humourous Dark!Ginny ficlet. I hope you like this chapter as much as that twisted little thing.**

**Amelle****: Thanks! And here's the next chapter for your reading and reviewing enjoyment.**

**Aliesha: Oh, I've got a chapter in the works that will address your concerns. However, it will take place at the end of the day and the day isn't quite finished with Ginny. I can't give you any details but it's gonna be a doosey.**

**DeadlyFate****: **Thanks! Here you go, next chapter reading, willing, and able! 

Note: I know some of you have been patiently waiting for Ginny to open up a can of whoop-ass on someone's pale blonde ass. Why am I mentioning this, just before the chapter on the Azkaban breakout? No reason. None at all. *whistles innocently* XD

Giles walked slowly around the Headmaster's office, where Dumbledore had told him to wait until he returned from the infirmary. Cautiously, he studied the various items that lined the older man's desk, stopping occasionally to pick one up and examine it before returning it to its place and moving on to the next item. He was engrossed in a study of Dumbledore's Pensieve when the Headmaster entered the room. 

            "Ah, yes, the Pensieve." he said cheerfully as he mounted the steps to his desk.  "That seems to be everybody's favourite."

            A sharp inhale was the only sign that Giles had been surprised. "These carvings around the edges," he said, running his fingers over them, "Runes, if I'm not mistaken. I assume they help channel the energy, keep it locked in place." 

            Dumbledore chuckled. "It wouldn't do to have one's thoughts simply floating around the room, now would it?" 

            Giles smiled deeply. "Of course not." 

            The Headmaster nodded and moved around the Watcher to sit at his desk. "You have a very sharp mind, Rupert." he said. "That is, of course, why I asked you and your people to come here. I need very alert people on my side, ones that are not as bound by the confines and prejudices of the wizarding world. Your idea about actively using double agents to exploit Tom's weaknesses was especially helpful." 

            Giles nodded grimly. "The benefits of Muggle American television. How is she doing?" 

            Dumbledore shook his head. "She's still struggling, but I have faith in her. Of course, I have other ways of keeping an eye on her, and I'll pull her out the second I believe she is in any serious danger of harm. I would never blindly hand over one of my students to him without assuring their safety first." He opened the drawer on his right and withdrew a small copper coin with a hole in the middle. "Ingenious invention, this is." He held it to the stream of light that was coming in through the window; a small rainbow came out the other end and with it, a small, ethereal creature emerged. "This is a Messenger Elf." he explained, leaning in to smile at the creature, who bowed. "It will memorize my message and travel through the light to its other coin, which will glow and alert the Order members on the other end. They simply hold it up to the light like so, and the elf appears again and repeats the message. But my favourite part is it's ingenious security measure: it will only relay information to those to whom I have shown it, namely the members of the Order." 

            Giles was amazed. "That's brilliant, Albus!" he exclaimed. "May I?" he asked, reaching for the coin. The Headmaster handed it to him and Giles turned it over in his hands, fascinated.

            Dumbledore smiled indulgently as he took the elf back. "It relies on the powers inherent in the light, an area that Voldemort chose to ignore due to its lack of tactical worth." He whispered to the elf, who bowed again before the coin was placed in the beam of sunlight. Replacing it in his desk, the Headmaster turned to face the Giles once more. "Light and love - two areas He will not understand."

            "At least, not until now, you said." replied the Watcher. 

            With a sigh, Dumbledore rose from his chair and stood facing Giles. "His hold is weakening, Rupert, and there is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Weasley is responsible for it." He smiled faintly, gleam never leaving his eye. "Even if she doesn't know it yet, she will be essential in bringing Voldemort's reign of terror to an end." 

             "From what you've told me, I believe he should be seeking a new host soon." Giles said before taking off his glasses and quickly cleaning them. "But what concerns me is what might happen to her if he finds one before we're ready; it would leave them both defenseless against the successor."

            Dumbledore shook his head. "He will only abandon the host if there it is in mortal peril. As long as there is a chance that he could survive, then he will stay. Such is the nature of his particular evil." 

            Giles replaced his glasses and nodded. "And what of the second double?" he asked.

            "Ah yes. The double will be sent in as soon as he starts building his army." answered the Headmaster. "He will find a way to break his followers out of Azkaban, even if Ms. Weasley is unsuccessful, but he will no doubt look to further increase his numbers." The Headmaster suddenly looked very tired. "This will be his final assault, and it is absolutely critical that we have as many advantages as possible. If Hogwart's falls, so will the rest of the wizarding world."

            Giles nodded understandingly and turned to go. "I'll get the others to research the qualities he might look for in his next host." he said, before exiting the office. 'I hope you know what you're doing, old friend.' he though as he descended the stairs. 

*

            Ginny paced around the small clearing Tom had selected as their vantage point. He had apparated her there and then looked menacingly down at her. 'If you're thinking of running or alerting the Order members once inside, think again.' he had said, staring her down. 'If you don't emerge from the building within a half hour, I will Apparate to any place that I now know contains members of the precious Order of the Phoenix, and kill them all.' His glare hardened as his voice strained. 'I'll kill you friends, your family, your owl even, until you come back to me.' Ginny had stared stoically at him and nodded stiffly. Tom had disapperated with the softest of hisses and left Ginny in her current state, pacing around the small area.

            Despite her brave face in Tom's presence, Ginny was terrified. The thought of having to see the dozen men that had haunted her dreams since she left the Department of Mysteries shook her in ways she couldn't begin to express and the fact that she was going to have make nice and not use her new powers to give them each a sound beating made her blood boil. 'They don't deserve to live and yet I'm going to have to pretend to be one of them.' she fumed silently. 'I wonder if they even feel sorry for all that they've done." Ginny paused, shook her head reprovingly, and sat down on a nearby stump where she began thoughtfully chewing her nails. 

            "That's really not a very attractive habit."

            Ginny jumped up from her repose and glared at Tom. "You know, it's polite to make at least a pop when you Apparate." she snapped. 

            He ignored her. "It's time. I want us to agree on a plan." He looked sternly into her set features, as if making one last attempt at reading her, and continued. "When you reach the prison, they will no doubt question you as to why you're away from the school during class time. What are you going to tell them?" he asked, training his eyes on Ginny's pacing form. 

            "It depends on who's out front." she replied, folding her hands together behind her back. "Tonks will understand - she was always finding ways out of school. Mad-Eye will be a bit more of a challenge - I might have to resort to water works for that one. Either way, it comes down to this." She turned to Tom, eyes brimming with fake tears. "I just had to see the face of the people who nearly killed my Harry." she wailed, earning her a small smile on Tom's part. Ginny snorted. "I guess there are some advantages to everyone believing you're still a helpless little school girl." she said, smirking. 

            Tom nodded. "And what if they don't let you in?" he asked, already knowing the answer. 

            Ginny's face darkened. "Then I get annoyed." she growled, cracking her knuckles.

            Tom swept over to her, and took her hand. "I'm counting on you, Virginia." he said, his brown eyes locking with her green. "Make me proud. Failure has consequences." 

            Ginny swallowed quickly and nodded. "I won't fail." she said, squaring her jaw.

            He released her hand and watched her march intently towards the prison. 

*

            'Oh Merlin. Oh Merlin. Oh Merlin. Oh Merlin.' Ginny's thoughts raced as she approached the prison. Suddenly, she shook her head. 'Get a hold of yourself, Weasley.' she reprimanded herself harshly. 'You can't save anyone beyond this if you're dead.' She squared her shoulders as she approached the tall gates of the prison, noting with some confusion the lack of a frontal guard. "Alahomohora." she commanded, and wasn't surprised when nothing happened. "Metalurgus!" She sucked in a quick breath as the gate's locks hissed and dissolved as if someone had poured acid on them. With a strong gust, the doors fell back on their squeaky hinges. 'And Ron complains when Hermoine wants to talk about extra credit.' Ginny though wryly as she entered the courtyard.

            The tall, black walls of the prison jutted up sharply from the earth and the jagged turrets seemed to cut the skyline. Nothing grew from the rocky ground Ginny trod across, and there were no signs of life from the barred windows. Not a sound stirred, even as she reached the main doors and opened them without so much as a rush of air. The atmosphere was dank, heavy, and dead; if she strained hard enough, Ginny swore she could almost smell the decay in the air. Quickly leaving the door behind her, she worked hard to keep her focus on the mission, walking brusquely until -

            "Ginny?" 

            Slowly, she turned around. "Mom?" she replied weakly, feeling as if the world had dropped out from beneath her.  

            Molly Weasley stood in front of her daughter, arms fallen to her sides, normally cheerful face now pale and gaping. "Is it true then?" she whispered. "You're working for Him?" 

            Ginny dragged her heel around the dirty floor. "It wasn't my choice, mama." she said quietly. "I hope the Professor is alright. Did he explain what happened? How he forgot his Pensieve?" she asked hopefully, looking into her mother's wide eyes. 

            Molly nodded mutely. "Dumbledore sent us a message this morning at the Burrow, telling us that there would be an attack here tonight, and that you would be part of it." A single tear dripped down her cheek. "Tonks and Mad-Eye were supposed to handle it, make it look like you'd been killed so He wouldn't come after you anymore. We're only here because no other Order members could manage the day shift." 

            Ginny blanched. "We? Dad's not here, is he?" 

            Molly nodded. "He's up a floor, patrolling. Merlin, sweetheart. What have you gotten yourself into?" she whispered.

            "I didn't get _myself_ into anything!" Ginny seethed. "_He_ was the one who came to _me_! He was the one who threatened the school! What was I supposed to do? Just let my friends go up in flames?" 

            Molly winced. "Alright, he made you go over to his side. But why is he leaving you in charge of an operation like this?" Suddenly, her eyes widened. "You really convinced him that you're actually on his side, didn't you?" 

            Despite herself, Ginny smiled. "Bloody brilliant under pressure, I am." she said proudly.

            "Bloody stupid is more like it!" Molly shrieked. "You know he's going to ask you to do worse than this!" She planted her hands on her hips. "Did you even discuss this with Dumbledore?" 

            "Sorry! Between the threats on the school and that Parkinson prat rallying the whole school to practically lynch me, no! I didn't!" Ginny fired back sarcastically. "What could he have done? Move the whole school to Grimmauld Place?"

            Molly glared. "Don't you use that tone, young lady, especially when you speak of Albus Dumbledore!" she scolded. "Now, I don't know what you've agreed to with him, but this whole ridiculous charade stops now!" She started over to her daughter. "Now, give me your wand. We're taking you back to Head Quarters where we can keep an eye on you."

            "No! You can't stop me, mama!" Ginny pleaded, jerking her wand behind her back. "If I come back without them, he said he'll kill me!" 

            Molly stopped dead. "No." she protested feebly.

            Ginny nodded, tearing up. "The original plan failed, mama." she said shakily. "He thought I was a spy from the beginning and he made me kill Snape so I stabbed him through the stomach but he escaped and now I have to help him regain his followers or he'll know that I'm still on our side." she babbled. 

            Molly shook her head. "There has to be a way to fool him." She looked pleadingly up at her daughter. "I don't want my youngest becoming a Death Eater."

Ginny winced and sighed. "Everything I do for him, I do because it's the only way to keep me alive." she said shakily. "Please. You have to open the cell doors. You have to help me."

            "Absolutely not, young lady!" Arthur cried from the stairwell. He stepped down and marched over to Ginny. "Now, Dumbledore's told us all about what you did to Professor Snape and quite frankly, I'm shocked. To think my own daughter would do - "

            "Do what, dad?" Ginny shouted. "Save that sniveling ingrate's life from the He-Who-Had-Far-Worse-Planned-For-Him?" She glared at her father. "If I hadn't thought as quickly as I did, he and I would both be dead right now!"  

            "Ginny!" Molly gaped. "I've never heard you speak like this!" 

            Arthur eyed his daughter suspiciously. "He's got her under the Imperius Curse, no doubt." he muttered to his wife. 

            Molly shook her head. "Remember the message: she's a Slayer - she's invulnerable to Unforgivables."

            "Hey! I'm standing right in front of you!" Ginny cut in, looking pleadingly between each of her parents. "We'll all be dead if you don't take down the locks on the cells." 

            Arthur gaped and Molly ran over and hugged her daughter tightly. "This is too much! This is crazy!" she cried against her daughter's shoulder. 

            Ginny held her mother tightly. "I know, mama." she whispered hoarsely. "But it's the only way."

She released her mother and walked her over to her father. "Can you do it, dad?" she asked, unable  to look him in the eye.

            Arthur nodded quickly, went over to the stairs leading to the second floor, and murmured a spell before returning to his wife and daughter. "They aren't that coherent." he said hoarsely. "You'll need someone skilled in healing spells." 

            Ginny nodded. "Thank you." she murmured gravely. "But there's one more thing." she added hesitantly. "I'm going to have to make it look like I lost my temper with you." Ginny rooted her eyes on the dirty floor, not daring to meet her parents' faces. "If you're unconscious, he can't read this conversation from you."

            Arthur shifted uncomfortably. "If you think this is the only way, Ginny." he said, voice catching. 

            Ginny squeezed back the tears that stung her eyes. "I promise this will only hurt a bit."

*

            Red sparks shot out from Ginny's wand and a few seconds later, Tom appeared by her side in front of the main gate. "What is it?" he asked urgently.

            Ginny made a show of rubbing her elbow. "I got the doors open but I ran into a problem." she replied. "It seems that despite all his rhetoric, Dumbledore still condones torture."

            Tom swore violently. "All this work to get them out myself." he grumbled as he stalked across the courtyard. 

            "Hey!" Ginny protested, easily matching his long strides. "I took out two of the most powerful members of the Order for you, opened all the doors, and I don't even get a thank you?"

            Tom ignored her until they entered the main floor. "Those two?" he asked incredulously, pointing to the two figures lying together in a heap. He studied them closer. "Aren't these your parents?" he asked, turning to Ginny. 

            She nodded. "Two toughest members in the Order of the Phoenix, aside from Mad-Eye and Dumbledore." she said with barely concealed pride. "Can't take a punch, though." she added thoughtfully.

            Tom regarded Ginny with a strange half-smile. "You were close to your parents, if I recall correctly. You used to write about how caring they were." Ginny nodded, shifting uncomfortably as Tom continued to watch her. "And you beat them into unconsciousness simply because I asked you to." He filed this carefully. "That is true devotion, Virginia." 

            Ginny exhaled impatiently. "Which is what I've been trying to prove to you all day. Look, can we just get the Death Eaters out of here?" she asked tersely. 

            Tom nodded. "Of course. Did you manage to find out which floor they're being held on?" he asked. 

            "Of course I did!" Ginny snapped. "Second floor." 

            Tom glared at her but nodded and together, the pair made their way up a flight of narrow steps that seemed to go on forever until at long last, they reach level two. A dusty plaque on the wall bore the name of some famous wizard who had contributed money during the last century to build the prison, but Ginny had neither the time nor the presence of mind to read it. Instead, she watched in awe as Tom became very still and very quiet as he focused his energies. 

            Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he pointed his wand towards the cells. "ENERVATE!" he cried, causing a ripple of bright blue energy to shoot from his wand and down the long hallway. As it dissipated, groans could be heard from the open cells

            "Wow." Ginny breathed. 

            Tom smiled smugly and then scowled. "Why aren't they emerging?" he muttered.

            Brow furrowed, Ginny walked past him to the first cell. The sign next to where the door used to read, "Dolohov" but as Ginny peered inside, she had to stifle a gasp. There was a skinny lump of bones taking in raspy breaths as it lay on the thread-bare cot bore no resemblance to the proud man she had encountered at the Department of Mysteries. Harsh tears cut into the thin fabric along the man's back, through which ugly red lines and welt marks jutted and burned their way into Ginny's memory. "Oh, Merlin." she whispered. 

            Tom came up so silently behind her that she jumped at the sound of his rage-filled voice. "Even I didn't expect Dumbledore to allow such barbaric treatment of prisoners-of-war." He stalked over to the cot where Dolohov lay, groaning and took a wand from Ginny's hand. "Activate." Tom murmured to it before passing it to Dolohov. 

            "Thank you, my lord." he cried weakly, kneeling to kiss the hem of Tom's robes. 

            Tom looked down on the trembling shell of a man. "Rise." he commanded regally. "It's time to see to the others." 

            Dolohov nodded and he and Tom exited the cell. Ginny, however, was still dealing with the shock. 'How could they.' she thought numbly.

"Virginia!" Tom called sharply from down the hall. "We need the wands!" 

            Ginny's awareness snapped back into reality. "Coming." she answered as she entered the second cell. "Avery" the sign read, and he looked much the same as Dolohov: emaciated and looking close to death until Tom handed him a wand. The procedure was the same right until the end of the hallway. 

            "Lucius." Tom murmured grimly. "Let's see what they've done to you, my pet." Ginny raised an eyebrow at the other Death Eaters but they all seemed to be ignoring her. "Stay here." Tom commanded over his shoulder as he entered the senior Malfoy's cell.

            Ginny nodded absently as she looked around. Each of the Death Eaters was at least a head taller than her, and even with their gaunt physiques, she had to wonder if she could disarm them all and escape. 'Buffy's defense class - yet another thing I'm not a part of because of him.' she thought bitterly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw Rudolphus Lestrange looking at her. However, when she turned her head, he was staring straight ahead and his expression was the same as the others: stoic, and full of barely controlled pain and hunger. 

            Finally, Tom and a very weak looking Lucius Malfoy emerged from the cell. His injuries seemed the worst: a split lip, two black eyes, and several ugly lacerations up and down his forearms were all visible to Ginny through the loose clothing provided to prisoners during their stay. Inwardly, Ginny felt a small sense of satisfaction. 'And I hope he inflicted worse than what I see, you son of a bitch.' she thought bitterly. Suddenly, a strange, subtle smile flitted across Malfoy's bloody and haggard features, causing Ginny to feel very nervous. She looked to Tom, but he was already at the head of the group, leading them to the front gates. Shaking her head, she fell in line with the rest, bringing up the rear. 

            "He's told us for many years now that he would find a way to claim you for our side, Ms. Weasley." said Lucius, bending to whisper to her as they descended the stairs. "He says you have a great deal of untapped potential."

            Ginny stiffened but kept walking. "What the hell are you talking about?' she hissed. 

            Malfoy Senior smiled enigmatically. "You'll do us all proud, I'm sure." he murmured. "That can't be your handiwork, can it?" he smarmed as they passed Molly and Arthur, who were still out cold.  Ginny ground her teeth but said nothing, earning her a harsh, raspy chuckle from the older man. "Welcome to the Death Eaters, child." he drawled as they crossed the courtyard. 

            That was enough for Ginny. She kicked sharply at the back of the man's already weak knees, causing him fall forward most ungracefully. The Death Eater's stopped and stared, but Ginny bent down to help Lucius back up, she grabbed his left arm and twisted it painfully behind the older man's back. "Don't cry out." she ordered under her breath. Tom looked back at them questioningly but Ginny simply patted Lucius's shoulder with her free hand and smiled. "He's still weak." she called out pleasantly. Tom raised an eyebrow at Lucius, but he smiled as well (albeit painfully), so Tom turned around. 

Satisfied that no one was watching, Ginny pulled Lucius up roughly, never releasing her hold on his arm, and forced him to keep walking. "Now, you listen to me." she hissed, careful to keep her voice low so that only the two of them could hear it over the crunch of feet over gravel and dirt. "I'm stronger than you could ever hope to be and I'm invulnerable to illegal curses." She smiled as Malfoy's face tightened, and tightened her grip on him. "So, you will show me nothing but the utmost respect and courtesy, is that clear?"

            Lucius nodded quickly. "I wasn't aware." he rasped quietly, eyes downcast. "Forgive me." 

            Ginny nodded and roughly released him. "Really, Lucius." she said sweetly as she walked up ahead to join Tom's side just beyond the main gates. "You don't need to be so shy about asking for help when you stumble."

            "I see you two are getting along." Tom said, an amused smile playing across his lips as Ginny came up to his side.

            "Famously." Ginny answered, grinning as she put her hand on the damaged book and disappeared.

I hope that was as satisfying to everybody! :D And this is only the beginning of the power struggle between Ginny and Lucius, so there will be plenty more opportunities for those two to duke it out. 

As usual, 4 -5 reviews to pay for the next chapter. Please? 


	12. The End of the Rope

Chapter 12 - The End of the Rope

Holy frijoles! Look at that fast response! This is really the highlight of my week, people, when I get to post another chapter and thank all the people who keep me motivated. 

**dancetdplc****: That means a lot to me. This story basically started out as a stupid dream/form of catharsis, but it's turned into a (p)lot more. As for length, I've finally managed to nail down the important events that need to happen and how they're going to play out, but I don't know how long it's going to take me. It is a dark piece, but I think it's also a good piece. **

**Amelle**:** Heh heh. I wasn't going to just let Lucius be alright with this little waif coming out of the boonies and usurping his place as Tom's favourite. But did he count on her whooping him? Oh no! **

**DeadlyFate****: Believe me: more Lucius-bashing to come! **

**ennui**** deMorte: I hoped the torture shows how grey the light can become and furthers Ginny's confusion as to where she belongs. **

**Jaimie** Lynn Potter:** Thanks! I'll be sending you the next chapter as soon as I get my butt in gear. I've been a good girl about watching my Ps and Qs (plotholes and questions) but I could always use another set of eyes. Let's see how this goes, shall we? **

**Laverne: **Glad to have you aboard the good ship "Gin and Tonic". Long may her twisted sails fly, eh? :D

**Aliesha: **I was wondering where you were, girl! And thanks for the Merry Christmas. You have one too, or a Happy Chanukah or a nice Eid, or a rocking Winter Solstice. 

Author's Note: This will probably be the last chapter of "Chosen" for this year, unless I find time over the holidays to get down with my muse. Enjoy, and have a happy, safe, and review-filled holiday season! 

Warning: This chapter contains more than a bit of het sexual content, so if that makes you squirm, this is your notice. 

            Ginny opened her eyes gradually as she became aware of her surroundings again. She doubted it was the portkey that was making her so disoriented, but the place she was back in: Tom's study. 'Home sweet home.' she thought bitterly. Death Eaters were appearing steadily all around her and all of them looked ready to collapse. Stifling the vague instinct to alleviate their discomfort, Ginny instead opted to sink into the soft leather of Tom's chair, where she propped her heavy head up on her hand and looked very aloof.

            But truth be told, she was beyond exhausted. The day's events had left her with a bizarre combination of acute panic and vague numbness. Her plans had fallen to pieces around her like a shattered shield and everywhere she looked, Ginny saw only the encroaching darkness that had been bordering on her mind since Tom had appeared to her. The only thought that saved her was the hope that Tom would be too busy celebrating his victory and planning the next move to spend anytime with her alone. 'I don't know if I can push him away gently enough and retain my place in the inner circle.' she thought. 'I'm just too tired.'

            Shaking her head, Ginny gave herself another impromptu pep talk. 'Oh no you don't, Weasley.' she thought. 'You're not going to panic. You're going to remember that you have the power and the strength, and you will use everything you see to your advantage.' She scanned the room, noting that none of the men looked healthy at all and some looked downright frail. 'We should have just killed them when we had the chance.' she thought bitterly. 'What is the point of keeping them alive when they can only cause suffering?' Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny could see Lucius and Dolohov whispering together in a corner of the room but as soon as they felt her gaze, they smiled plastically back at her and huddled even closer together. Ginny scowled. 'The nerve of him!' she thought indignantly. 'He knows my strength and yet he still conspires against me. I guess another lesson in just what an angry Slayer can do is in order.' She crackled her knuckles in anticipation, but suddenly she stopped. 'Okay, where the hell did that come from? I don't think like that. Do I?' She shook it off, and continued her assessment of the room, noting with satisfaction that Bella was nowhere to be seen. 'I hope he killed you, bitch.' 

            Suddenly, her venomous inner tirade was cut short by a hand on her shoulder. Startled, Ginny whipped her head up to look into Tom's frowning face. 'That's my chair.' he said simply. 

            "Sorry." she whispered, easing out of the chair slowly as not to appear weak in front of the men. Smiling sheepishly, she lowered her head and came to the sick realization that she was standing on top of wine red patch Snape's blood. Ginny edged away from the spot to stand in front of the fireplace, hands gripping each other tightly behind her back. 

            "Loyal Death Eaters," Tom's voice boomed. "It pleases me greatly to see you all before me again, even after enduring such terrible mistreatment at the hands of Dumbledore's delusional followers." Several of the Death Eaters grumbled angrily and Tom held up a hand to silence them. "Patience." he said theatrically. "They will be dealt with soon enough." Ginny could have sworn she thought she saw Tom smile darkly at her, but dismissed it as he continued. "I know you thirst for revenge as I do, but in order to best extract our bloody retribution, I must have more people to command. We must swell our ranks, and the story that the Daily Prophet will no doubt be running on your escape will help us in that end. It will plant the first seeds of fear, doubt, and panic in the populace, especially when it is revealed that the supposedly infallible Order of the Phoenix was betrayed by one of their own." Tom looked excitedly around the group. "Men, Virginia Weasley has joined us." 

            There was a ripple of confused murmurs as all eyes turned to Ginny, who muttered a soft "meep!" before steeling her gaze against them. Tom smiled proudly. "It is as I told you. She will add her gifts to our ranks and make us completely unstoppable." Tom gestured for Ginny to join his side and put a protective arm around her. "Her Slayers abilities, combined with my power and our great numbers will spell the downfall of Hogwart's and the rest of those pitiful Muggle lovers." He scanned the room, eyes wide with anticipation. "Meet your new empress, men, and watch the world tremble before her." 

            "Milord, the girl you warned us of is a _Weasley_? They haven't been anything of importance in centuries!" cried Rudulphus Lestrange, aghast. However, seeing Tom's rapidly darkening expression, he paused and winced. "With all due respect, sir, are you sure she's worthy?"

            Tom's icy glare seemed to root everyone to the spot. "I wasn't aware that you were in a position to question me, Ruduplus." he growled, before setting the Cruciatus Curse on him and turning to the rest of the Death Eaters. "Virginia's worth to us has been proven beyond reproach. How many of you pathetic worms have noticed that Severus is not here?" he asked sharply, and smiled as they exchanged questioning murmurs. "Yes, that's right. He has been permanently cut from our ranks. Severus was a spy, turning over our secrets to Dumbledore, so Virginia took it upon herself to kill him for his betrayal." He smiled proudly as he wrapped an arm about her waist.

            The Death Eaters' glares changed slowly into grudging approval. All except Lucius regarded her with what could almost pass as respect. 

            "I wasn't aware that Hogwart's students receive training in the use of Unforgivable Curses?" he asked mildly. "That's certainly an interesting development in the curriculum."

            Ginny summoned the last vestiges of her strength and rolled her eyes. "I don't need a curse to dispatch someone." she replied haughtily. "I took his old portkey and ran him through with it, for sentimental value." she drawled, eliciting snickers from some of Tom's followers.

            Lucius, however, was unmoved. "How poetic." he sniffed. "Why not use a spell? There are at least a dozen that I can think of that are very legal but would produce the same result." He glanced at her suspiciously. "Unless, of course, you wanted him to survive, but, of course, I doubt that's the case." he finished, smiling thinly.

            Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. "I expected someone with a reputation for being as vicious as yourself to have a little more imagination, Lucius." she said. "Killing him right off would have been bordering on merciful. Am I to assume you don't think traitors to our great lord deserve to suffer?" she asked sweetly, making a show of cracking her knuckles as she looked him in the eye.

            Much to Ginny's amusement, Lucius's eye seemed to twitch mildly. "How very creative of you." he answered tensely. "Welcome aboard."

            Tom watched with satisfaction as the power play came to an end. "You really know how to handle him, Virginia." he murmured. "I'm impressed." Oblivious to the relieved sigh Ginny exhaled, he turned his attention back to the men in front of him. "There is one final development that you need to be aware of. I have acquired another new ally. Drusilla?" he called out the door.

            "Look at all the nice people, Miss Edith." The Death Eaters turned simultaneously to the door, where Drusilla stood in a low-cut red beaded dress, cradling her doll. 

            Tom nodded. "Drusilla, these are my followers. Remember the men I told you about?" 

            Dru nodded distantly as wafted into the room. "So full of hate." she said, sniffing Mulciber lightly. "And power." She passed in between Avery and Goyle when suddenly, her gaze locked and she smiled happily. "You've come back to me." she breathed and made her way over to where Lucius stood, looking puzzled. "Exactly the same, every part of you. Such wondrous power and grace, like a lion. " she said, voice full of muted wonder as she skimmed a hand down his side. "Oh, we're going to have so much fun!" she cooed, snuggling up against him.

            Lucius looked torn between desire and confusion. "Milord?" he questioned, subtle efforts to edge away from the lusty vampire causing both Tom and Ginny to smirk.

            "Drusilla is our other new ally." he said smoothly. "She has the Second Sight and has been very accommodating in sharing her visions with me, including  the one that brought you back from Azkaban." His lips began to twitch again with amusement as Dru started to moan and rub against Lucius's hips, furthering his discomfort. "Dru?" he asked, waving a hand through her line of vision. "Dru, I need him to focus." 

            The vampire stopped her motions reluctantly. "Can I keep him?" she asked excitedly. "Can I make him mine again?" 

            Tom shook his head. "Play all you want, but none of my people are to be turned. It's the same answer you've gotten every time you've asked that." Dru pouted but backed off and settled for gently caressing the Senior Malfoy, who appeared to have accepted Tom's implied orders. "Now, you have all been assigned rooms here at the manor for your protection. Wormtail will be along shortly to escort you to them."

            Suddenly, the former rat stuck his very human head in the door. "Is it time to settle in?" he asked nervously. Tom nodded. "Alright then, if you'll all follow me." he said, trailing off as several Death Eaters purposely shoved past him. Lucius and Dru walked out, arm in arm, and she growled inhumanly at Wormtail as she passed, giggling as a wet spot appeared on the front of his trousers.

            "Alone at last." Tom murmured silkily as the last Death Eaters left the room. He wound his arms around Ginny's waist and nuzzled the back of her neck, causing her to tense. "Is something wrong?" he asked, pulling away slightly.

            Ginny shrugged limply. "It's been a long day. I just want to lie down for awhile." she explained. "Do I get a room too, or should I just make myself comfortable in the chair?" she asked teasingly.

            Tom frowned. "Absolutely not. You drool in your sleep." Ginny hit him playfully on the arm and he smiled. "Of course I made arrangements for you. Follow me."

            Tom and Ginny exited the study and went down the long hallway to where it ended in an abstract painting of a snake eating its own tail. "Sssyeth hess ssoyethh." Tom hissed at it and the wall disappeared to reveal a curving set of stone stairs. Without looking back, Tom led Ginny up the seemingly endless ascent until they reached the most beautiful bedroom Ginny had ever seen. The walls were panelled in deep cherry wood and were lined with massive books (no doubt about the Dark Arts) and crystals of all shapes, sizes and colours. Along the western side of the room, a beautifully panelled window soared, ground to ceiling, revealing the most breath-taking view of the sunset Ginny had ever witnessed. 

            But the centre piece of the room, it's most exquisite object, was the gigantic four posted bed which seemed to grow out of and dominate the wall farthest from her. Blood red velvet curtains had been drawn back to reveal black silk sheets that clothed a thick mattress and enormous black pillows. A massive black duvet had been pulled back slightly, giving it an extremely inviting look, one of being ready to be enjoyed. The whole setting radiated power and sexuality and the notion of accepting whatever actions were necessary to maintain her cover suddenly didn't seem phase Ginny so terribly.

             She took a tentative step forward and looked up in amazement at Tom, who was looking quite pleased with himself. "May I look around, milord?" she asked breathlessly. 

            Tom nodded regally and gestured around. "This is to be your new bed chamber." he announced as Ginny walked slowly around the room. "I think you'll find it somewhat more appealing than either of your old ones." he drawled. 

            In spite of herself, Ginny grinned. "It's the most exquisite place I've ever been!" she exclaimed, turning to Tom and beaming. "Thank you!" she breathed before turning back to her reverent examination of the room's contents. "It's so beautiful." She made her way over to the window wall and traced the rippling arc of the sunset.

            Tom walked over to her and took her hand. "Only the best for the lord and lady of the manor." he murmured, kissing it gently.

            Ginny stiffened slightly. "This is your room?" she asked, suddenly incredibly nervous. 

            Tom nodded. "Of course. What did you think I was going to do? Force you to live with a room full of Death Eaters?" His eyes narrowed slightly. "If they put one hand on you, I would kill them. You're mine now, and no one else's."                                                                                                                                                 

            Ginny swallowed quickly. "So, is there a bathroom up here?" she asked brightly, turning to face him. She hoped to distract him from both his newfound scowl and further mentions of sleeping arrangements.

            Tom stared at her, brow furrowed in a silent question and Ginny's smile stretched painfully. Finally, after a minute, his gaze cleared and he nodded, leading her to a door in the paneling. "It takes up the rest of the third floor." he said proudly, opening the door. "It makes the prefects bath look like a puddle." The marble basin extended as far as Ginny could see and she could count no less than 70 taps coming from along its sides. Fluffy towels were stacked neatly against one wall, where equally soft-looking white terry cloth robes hung in perfect order. Suddenly, the unbidden image of Tom slipping in silently to join her in the pool flashed across her tired mind, but Ginny could not summon the will to banish it. Instead, she smiled softly and snuggled against Tom's chest. "Everything is perfect." she whispered, closing her eyes.

            Tom lifted her head up to level with his with a finger. "Now, Virginia, you'll be expected to earn your keep." he said seriously, looking into her deep green eyes. "Just because you're my consort doesn't mean you'll be exempted from regular Death Eater duties."

            Ginny's eyes bulged a fraction. "Consort?" she whispered. "We'll be sleeping together."

            Tom's look turned predatory. "There's only one bed." he whispered huskily as he nipped her neck. "And I don't think the floor will be very comfortable." 

            Ginny closed her eyes and let Tom's arms encircle her and draw her closer to him. "No, I don't imagine it would be." she whispered, drowning in the pleasure that Tom's lips were evoking from the sensitive spot behind her earlobe. "No, not at all." Ginny found all further words impossible as Tom captured her mouth in another of his now infamous kisses and thrilled to his touch as he snaked a hand inside her robes. 

            "Hmmm." he murmured as he paused his ministrations to rake his eyes over her. "Those robes will definitely have to go." With one quick motion, Ginny's school robes landed on the floor, and now she stood in just a thin white cotton button-up and pleated skirt. Tom closed his eyes and moaned. "Actually, I rather like the idea of you never wearing clothes again." 

            Ginny blushed. "What about 'earning my keep'?" she joked. "What about the others' reactions when I come to meetings, naked as the day I was born?" she asked, playfully flicking his earlobe with her tongue and sending shivers down his spine. 

            "Then I'll just have to gouge out their eyes." he growled as he scooped her up and deposited her on the bed. Ginny landed with a gasp that was quickly smothered as Tom fell on top of her, kissing her passionately until she was sure her head would spin. While his lips continued working their magic, his hands flew to the buttons of her shirt and, with infinite patience and amazing coordination divested her of her shirt. Ginny gasped as the cool air brushed over her hot skin, but was quickly distracted by Tom undoing the hooks of her plain, front-close bra. Liquid heat centred in her as his tongue slowly circled the taught bud of her left nipple and she gasped his name as he gradually applied more pressure while gently kneading the other breast.  

            Ginny looked down at him through heavily lidded eyes as he moved his attention from left to right, deftly switching hand and mouth. With only a passing thought to her newfound wantonness, she moaned loud and low. "Oh gods, Tom." she murmured. "Never stop." 

            Tom paused his ministrations to lock their lust-darkened eyes. "The best is yet to come, my love." he purred, grinning wolfishly at her as he hastily divested himself of his shirt.

            Licking her lips with anticipation, she greedily drank in the sight of his magnificent body. "Merlin, you're amazing." she breathed.

            He grinned and grabbed her hands, pinning them behind her head. "Mine." he growled possessively, dipping to tug at her pert nipple with his teeth. 

            Ginny almost screamed. "Do that again!" she cried breathily, and cried out again as he obeyed. His hips rocked into hers as he continued, creating a delicious heat and causing Ginny to moan and hiss in the sheer pleasure overload. 

            Tom smirked as his mouth came up to claim hers one last time. "You know you just said 'table clock' in Parseltongue." he laughed, eliciting an embarrassed giggle from Ginny. 

            "We'll have to work on my linguistic skills later." she panted. "Much later." Tom nodded quickly before rushing down to fuse his mouth to hers. His tongue found hers and shimmied sensuously against it. Moaning, Ginny wound a hand into Tom's thick hair and pulled him closer against her. 'I could do this for hours.' she thought distractedly as the thrusting of tongues and hips gradually took up more of her focus. 'It's not actually that bad. Maybe I can distract him from world domination by making out with him all the time.'

            However, an alarm bell went off in her head as she could feel a hand skimming up her inner thigh. Suddenly, she panicked. "Wait!" she cried.

            Tom broke the kiss and frowned. "What is it?" he asked, annoyed but stopping his hand.

            Ginny took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm a virgin." she blurted out, screwing her eyes shut. "I'm not ready. Don't be angry." 

            With a long exhale, Tom slid slowly off the bed. "Of course I'm not angry, Virginia." he answered smoothly, pulling his shirt back on.

            Ginny slowly opened her eyes. "You're not?" she asked hesitantly. 

            Tom shook his head. "Why would I be angry?" he questioned as he walked towards the door. He turned sharply and quietly descended the stone stairs. 

            In the distance, she could hear him hiss the password at the wall and strained to listen until she could no longer hear his footsteps. It was only when she was sure he was out of earshot that she broke down and sobbed until she wretched. Watching the sun set with bleary eyes, she welcomed sleep when it finally claimed her. 

                                                                                                *

            Tom's stride turned from forceful to bordering on bouncy as he walked down the second floor corridor; had he been inclined to the habit, he was sure he would have been whistling a jaunty tune. Smirking, he stopped in front of the door across from the study and pressed an ear to it, already knowing what he would find. Moans and high-pitched giggling could be heard by even the casual passer-by and Tom smiled to himself. 

            "Glad to see you two are getting along." he said loudly as he disabled Lucius's locking charm walked through the open door. 

            Lucius jumped and bit back a curse while Drusilla rolled languidly to one side, completely unperturbed at being viewed in the nude. "Come to join our happy game?" she questioned, slowly licking the tip of her index finger. 

            Tom ignored her and spoke directly to Lucius. "As usual, I was right." he announced smugly. 

            Lucius stifled a groan as he sat up and bunched the sheets up over his naked bottom half. "Right about what, my lord?" he asked politely.

            "She's pure." Tom answered. 

            Dru giggled insanely as she rolled around the bed. "Puzzle piece hasn't a spot on her." she said, laughing to herself. "Perfect, ripe for the taking." She rolled around until she was looking up at Tom. "Will she be coming to our party too?" she asked, gesturing to Lucius and winking at him.

            Tom shook his head. "No, Drusilla. I think I'll keep her to myself for awhile." He frowned contemplatively. "At least until after the siege. She's bound to get dull by then." 

            Lucius appeared to be thinking something over carefully. "But, if you don't mind me asking, why her? Why a Weasley?" He winced and waited for a sound Crucio, but it never came so he continued. "I know the spell calls for a virgin's first blood, but surely there are dozens in the village who would gladly give themselves to you, milord." He looked up at Tom, who smiled enigmatically. "If there's something we should know about her, I'd rather you tell me first." 

            "Oh, Lucius. Sweet arrogant Lucius." Tom sighed. "There are sometimes when you over-estimate my opinion of you." He looked down benignly. "But now isn't one of those times. Do you remember four years ago, when you gave Virginia my diary?" 

            Lucius scowled. "And then that bloody Potter brat almost destroyed it." 

            Tom tensed but continued. "But before that...unfortunate setback, I was able to pour quite a bit of my power into her, which allowed her to open the chamber and control the basilisk." 

            "Big snake, pretty snake. Hungry snake wants some blood." Dru sang softly to herself.

            Tom and Lucius both rolled their eyes. "Anyway, when Potter destroyed my memory, he also destroyed my chances of reclaiming the power with which I had invested Virginia." Tom said. "But now, when I claim her, I not only get the final ingredient for the ward-breaking spell, but the last remainders of my power." Tom grinned triumphantly. "I trust that clears up Virginia's purpose with us. You don't need to worry Lucius; she's just another step in my rise to ultimate power."  
            Lucius chuckled. "And I was worried that you actually had feelings for her, smug little bitch. Can I ask something? When you get tired of her, will you give her to me?" He smiled darkly, oblivious to Tom's darkening glare. "I've got a few things I'd like to try on her." 

"Oh no, my pet. You've made him angry." Dru said tremulously. 

Lucius looked up just in time to see Tom's wand pointed at his chest.

"CRUCIO!" Tom cried, and Lucius hit the floor with a dull thud, trying desperately not to scream. 

Tom stepped over to him, and stilled his writhing with his foot. "Watch your mouth, Lucius. She's not out of my favour yet." he said calmly. "Finite incantatum." 

            Lucius stopped struggling at once and rose shakily to his feet. "I'm sorry, my lord. Forgive my impertinence." he mumbled, eyes focused on the floor.

            Tom smiled over-brightly. "What's there to forgive?" he exclaimed as he made his way back to the door. "I'll tire of her soon, no doubt. Carry on!" he called over his shoulder as the door closed and relocked itself.

            Dru growled. "Thought he'd never leave." she moaned as she pulled Lucius back down on the bed and slid herself down onto him.

            However, Lucius's face fixed itself into a mask of rage. 'He's never been that protective of any of his girls, not even Bella.' he thought, casting a glare the ceiling above him. 'I don't know how but that little bitch has bewitched him.' He growled as the effect of Dru's pistoning hips swam back into his awareness. Angrily, he pushed her down so that he was mounting her and bit her shoulder violently. Dru screamed and giggled, which seemed to encourage Malfoy's violence. He struck her hard across the face and smiled evilly as he saw a single reflexive tear fall down Dru's smiling cheek. Driving madly into her, he crested long and hard, screaming out brutal names and a promise that he would one day make Ginny pay.

I told you today would just suck for Ginny. But don't worry - she's going to wake up a whole new person. And Lucius thought he had it rough with her good side. Heh heh heh. 


	13. At the end of the day, you're another da...

Chapter 13 - At the end of the day, you're another day older. 

Phew! You guys don't know how long it's taken me to sit my butt down and get this chapter finished! 

**Dannii: Aw, thanks! I'm at glad you're liking it so far. **

**Aliesha: Patience. I have plans for Malfoy Senior. *smirk* And good on me for pulling the wool over on the Dru-cius! As for Snape and Buffy, I figure that will happen slowly for awhile but something big will happen later to force them to accept their feelings and generally get a move on already. I promise it'll be worth it. Picture Snape doing the Macarena until then; it always helps me. **

**Jaime Lynn Potter: I tried to send this chapter off several times for beta-ing, but I kept getting my messages returned to me because of some stupid error. If you have an alternate address, leave it in your review and I'll try that. **

**ennui**** deMorte: No, Dru's under strict orders not to eat any of Tom's people, especially Ginny. I mean that she's been forced to break away from her friends, family, and everything else she holds dear and can't see a way out. That'll do a lot to a girl's state of mind. Look for increasingly obvious fighting between those two, old pet versus new. **

**Amelle****: **Oh yeah! And how! Again and some more! I think he's had a thing for her since the diary incident but was too busy getting his body back to concentrate on her. But, now that he's back to his old self again, the feelings are really starting to come out. 

**DeadlyFate****: Why, yes. Yes, I am. But the snowball will really start to pick up speed in the next chapter. Heh heh (wish I had it written already) **

A/N: This is for Aliesha, who requested a little exposition on the Draco thing. Everyone! Do the Exposition Boogey! (tm Regina)

A/N the Second: To make it up to Joss, here's some pimpage. Buy "Radio Sunnydale", the new Buffy soundtrack!! It's absolutely amazing, and more than a few songs can be applied to the Gin and Tonic. "Pavlov's Bell" actually got me started on Chapter 8. Buy it!

A/N the Third: The Xandrew rides tall in the middle of this chapter. I think it's cute, but I've done it in such a way that they can be ignored if people don't like/get it. Let me know through reviews! 

Dinner that night was a somber affair. After a day of classes that refused to end, the gang trudged to dinner without saying a word and began mechanically piling food on their plates without much thought to what it was. Even a day without Potions wasn't enough to lift the gang's spirits.

"You just put sour cream on your chips, Ron." Hermoine pointed out tiredly. 

"Uh-hun" Ron continued to smear the substance around his plate, as if the patterns in the dull white goo could produce a solution to the current situation.

Draco looked worriedly over at Harry, who was the only one in the group who was completely neglecting the food in front of him. "You should eat something." he suggested quietly. 

"Not hungry." 

"You're always hungry." 

"Not today." 

Suddenly, Draco snapped. "Alright, enough!" he hissed, slamming his fork down on the table and causing the other three Gryffindors around him to start. "This is stupid! Moping about isn't going to solve anything." 

Hermoine took in a slow breath and replaced her fork by her plate. "Well, then, Malfoy." she said. "What do you suggest we do? We don't even know where she is, so we can't take her ourselves; she's being held by a fully-empowered Voldemort himself, for Merlin's sake; the Order is having enough trouble keeping the Ministry under watch so we can't ask them to get involved." She sighed and pressed her lips tightly together. "It's always worse when it's personal, but we need to keep our heads." She looked over at Harry, who was still staring at nothing. 

Draco stoically met his new friend's gaze. "I am very aware of all of those facts, Granger. I just thought it might give us some perspective." He violently speared a chip and ground it into the salt on his plate before shoving it in his mouth. "Forgive me for even suggesting such a moronic idea."

Harry shifted in his seat and turned tiredly towards Draco. "What's there to talk about?" he asked. "She's gone -"

"Don't you ever say that!" Ron yelled suddenly, causing the whole Great Hall to turn and stare at them. "What are you looking at?" he shouted at the rest of the school, who murmured amongst themselves but returned to their meals. "She isn't gone." he continued to his shocked friends. "We just need to think of a way to get her out that doesn't involve us getting captured, tortured, maimed or killed by Death Eaters." He blinked. "Something simple like that." 

Hermoine looked tentatively at her friends. "I know it may sound naive, but she may be trying to get back on her own." she suggested, sipping her pumpkin juice. "She may have an exit planned, just without a good time to use it." 

Harry closed his eyes. "I don't think so, Hermoine." he mumbled, rubbing his temples. "You heard what Snape said..." He trailed off, the horrible mental image cutting his brain off from his vocal chords. 

Ron looked over at Harry with barely suppressed rage. "He's lying. Ginny would never willingly do that. She said herself before she left that she would only do what's necessary keep him from killing everyone." He regarded his friends with a ferocious desperation. "We need to think of ways to get her back. We've never shied away from the dangerous and stupid before, so why are we starting now?" He looked over at Harry. "I know you probably don't want to remember it, but you've been to Riddle House. Don't you know anything that could help us figure out where it is? Come on, mate. Give me something, anything, to work with here." Harry's tired eyes flicked up to meet Ron's fiery ones. "Do it for Sirius. It would make him proud to see you back in action." 

"I know, Ron." Harry said quietly. "And I want her home and safe from him, too. But it's no good if...if it turns out like last time." He rose quickly from the table. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do." Without a look back, he all but ran from the Great Hall and back towards Gryffindor Tower. Draco followed him a beat later, napkin thrown carelessly across his plate. 

Ron and Hermoine sat together silently, staring at the two vacant spots in front of them. "We should probably start avoiding mentioning Sirius at all costs, you know." Hermoine said quietly, gaze focused on her lap. 

"Probably." Ron agreed distractedly. "But you agree with me, don't you, Moine?" He looked pleadingly at her. "We can work this out, we just need to think harder." 

"Ron, stop." she snapped, jerking her head up to look at her best friend. "We can't over power a Dark Lord and Merlin knows how many of his Death Eaters and make it out alive. You know as well as I do that the only reason we aren't dead right now is because the Order saved us at the last minute." She closed her eyes and flexed her fingers in an attempt to control her raging emotions for a moment before returning her gaze to Ron. "We're rank, arrogant amateurs who have absolutely no leverage in the situation. Face it: we may have finally found something we can't solve." She threw her legs violently over the bench and stood. "I want her back but I plan to be alive to welcome her home." With a sharp turn of her heel, Hermoine stalked out of the Great Hall, leaving a desperate Ron alone with his increasingly frantic schemes. 

** 

Willow groaned as she sank into one of the couches in the tower common room. "I think I'm getting old, Buffy." she groaned. "I should have seen that book coming." 

Buffy grinned as she pulled on a t-shirt sat down beside her friend. "Well, it was levitated by Neville Longbottom." She shook her head. "He was in my class this morning. I didn't even think it was possible to punch yourself in the head like that." 

Willow straightened and cracked her neck. "But I take from the lack of bruises and frantic visits to Poppy's infirmary that your classes are going well?" 

"Famously." Buffy replied in a mock English accent. "And I assume your classes are beyond pencil floating?" 

Willow smiled. "Some of them have real talent. We might even be calling up some elements by the end of the week." Suddenly, her smile turned sly. "I'm just glad that I don't have to cover Potions. That substitute the Ministry sent looks terrified of her own shadow." 

Buffy chuckled. "I talked to her today in the staff room. She kept eying the ceiling and muttering something about how Beauxbatons doesn't keep poltergeists." She ran a hand absently through her hair. "I offered to get notes off of Severus for her - I don't think she's last 10 seconds with him." The Slayer rolled her eyes. 

Willow's smile deepened. "I bet you'd last hours with him." she joked

Buffy smiled ruefully. "Gotta love Slayer stam - " She cut herself off as she noticed Willow biting her cheeks to contain her laughter. "Would you give it a rest? I don't like him like that." she protested as she playfully hit the witch on the arm. "I can't even stand him! He's arrogant, sarcastic, annoying, _British_. That's all definitely off my list now."  

Willow held up her hands in a mock gesture of defeat. "Alright! No more Brits." Suddenly, her look turned conciliatory. "It's because of Spike, isn't it?" she asked quietly. 

Buffy sighed and got up to pace the room. "It's like he's everywhere here, Will." she said softly. "It's like he's haunting me." 

The redhead regarded her friend with a sympathetic smile. "He'd want you to be happy, Buffy. You know that." 

"And what if he doesn't?" Buffy whispered. "What if all this - especially that Malfoy kid - is all a sign that I'm not supposed to forget about him?" She turned and looked pleadingly at her friend. "What am I supposed to do?" 

"Hey." Willow said, rising and taking the shaken girl into her arms. "This is just grief. You're seeing parts of him everywhere because you want him back." The girls pulled apart, and Willow smoothed an errant strand of hair behind Buffy's ear. "You'll live through it, the same way you've lived through everything else." 

Buffy turned away from her friend and took up slowly walking the room. "You're right, as always." she said with a small smile. 

"About time you admitted that." the witch replied, smiling. 

Buffy rolled her eyes, but continued. "I'll just keep teaching - how did I get this job again? - and wear out the semester." She paused in front of a window and watched the moonlight play off the trees of the Forbidden Forest. "Maybe it's time I revived the tradition of "Birthdays Without Boyfriends", only this time, it'll be Yule Balls without Boyfriends, Christmas breaks without Boyfriends and New Years without Boyfriends, and Graduation Ceremonies Without Giant Snakes and Boyfriends." 

"Unless, of course, you end up getting some quality time in with the Dungeons master." Willow teased.  

Buffy grinned. "He hasn't seen a Slayer in action." 

Willow blinked away the mental picture swimming through her head and shook her head. "Now, there's the resilient Buffy I've been looking for." She patted her friend on the shoulder. "Just wait until I owl Xander about this." 

"I wonder how New Zealand is working out for him and Andrew." Buffy wondered. "Think they've found any Slayers there, yet?" 

Willow rolled her eyes. "I don't think so. Do you really think that the two biggest fantasy geeks in the world are going to waste their time chasing girls when they're in Lord of the Rings territory?" 

Buffy laughed. "Right. I just hope they're keeping out of trouble." 

**

"And don't let me see you're ugly mug around here again, punk!" 

Xander squattted beside his fallen traveling companion. "Maybe you shouldn't have opened up with 'Bench-pressed any of these losers yet, baby?'" he said tiredly, while helping Andrew to his feet. "I kinda get the feeling her brothers were the over-protective type." 

Andrew rubbed a hand over his face, checking for cuts. "Yeah, I got that too." he said sourly. "But as far as our search goes, I think we're doing alright. I mean, we're alive." he said optimistically as he and Xander headed back to their hotel. "I wonder how Buffy, Willow, Giles, and Dawn are doing." 

"I bet they're probably having a sumptuous victory feast to celebrate their glorious victory over He-Who-Probably-Wet-His-Pants-Like-A-Bitty-Baby's." Xander answered confidently as they walked across the small lobby and over to the elevators. 

Andrew sighed. "I still can't believe all that's real." he said, running a finger over the elevator railing.

Xander eyed him incredulously as they began their ascent. "After living in Sunnydale all these years, an all-powerful wizard wanting to take over the world is a surprise?" He scoffed. "There aren't even any vampires involved." 

"Still, it's _Voldemort, Xander." the blonde replied as he opened the door to their room. "Buffy might be able to stop him. He could jump out of any of their heads at any moment." _

"Nah, he can't even get passed the words in his fully-powered form." Xander answered unthinkingly. Then he paused. "I mean, there's nothing our Buffy can't handle." He looked over at Andrew. "Geek." 

"Bigger geek." he answered breezily as he flopped backwards down on the bed. "Anyway, when do we get to do some sight-seeing?" he whined. "We've been looking all week and my butt is tired from getting kicked by all the over-protective boyfriends and brothers of girls we just seem to insult."

Xander smiled. "Yeah, you're right. We've earned a little indulgence." 

Andrew squealed and tackled his traveling companion. "Yes! We'll go traveling on an epic sight-seeing journey, just like Sam and Frodo!" 

"'Don't you lose him, Samwise Gamgee!'" they said in unison before dissolving into fits of giggles. Suddenly, the laughter died down and the two were left in uncomfortable silence. 

Finally, Xander broke it by disentangling himself from the blonde and nervously making his way to the bathroom for a shower. "Sight-seeing until Dumbledore's money runs out. Can't beat that!" With a nervous chuckle, he disappeared into the bathroom and the sound of running water. 

Andrew rolled his eyes and reached for the T.V remote. "Some day, Xander." he murmured to himself as he lost himself in late night TV. "Someday." 

**

Dawn groaned as she shut the book. "Face it, Giles. There's nothing here." she whined. "Can I go yet?" 

Giles frowned as he looked up from his volume. "I promised Albus that we would research potential new hosts for Salazar's possession, and you're no stranger to long work sessions." He took off his glasses. "Is there somewhere you need to be?" 

"Oh, no. No. I was just supposed to meet Cho and some other girls for a common room studyfest." Dawn answered. "But then again, Watchers have no friends. Watchers need no friends." 

Giles rolled his eyes as he cleaned his glasses. "Fine. Go. Leave me all alone in this mountain of thick books, reading until the lines blur together, weak with hunger -" 

"Alright! Alright! Jeez!" Dawn held up her hands in surrender. "You do know you sound like mom when you do that." 

Giles returned his glasses to his nose and his focus to the book in front of him. "I always knew I should've had children of my own." he said distractedly. 

Dawn pulled another book from the heaping stack in front of her and opened to a random page. "So, we're looking for evil, healthy, powerful?" she asked, flipping back to the index in frustration. Then she looked up, all faux suspicion. "Giles, have you hugged your inner Ripper lately?" 

The former Watcher ignored her. "Well, the new host would most likely be someone who made it out of Azkaban relatively unharmed or who healed that much faster than the others." Giles replied. "If I had to choose anyone at this point, it would be - " he scanned his list of Death Eater's names and brief biographies. "Rudolphus Lestrange." 

Dawn furrowed her brow. "So we narrow down the list of the usual suspects and send it off with the other double?" she asked, and Giles nodded. "And I thought this year was going to be about magic." 

"It is, Dawn." Giles answered, looking up earnestly. "The skills you'll learn here will be invaluable for your future as a Watcher. You never know when you might need to levitate a weapon, or prepare a potion or - " 

"Conjure a breakthrough?" Dawn interrupted excitedly. "Look at this." she said, handing Giles _The Ties That Bind - a Guide to Mystical Connections. "It's not exactly what we're looking for, but I bet Ginny's friends don't know this." _

Giles scanned the page. "In some cases, permanent magical bonds have been known to form during periods of intense contact, such as through spells that connect the hearts, minds, or souls of the participants." he read aloud. "These bonds, however, connect the persons' mystical energies in such a way that they may begin to loose their own traits into a kind of mixture of both personalities until they are utterly the same. Interestingly, the participants also lose the ability to use magic on each other, perhaps owing their energies becoming intertwined as well." 

"So they can't use magic to hurt each other because magic can't work against itself." Dawn clarified. "Weird. So why didn't you, Buffy, Xander, and Willow get your minds melded?" 

Giles continued to read on. "Because it was a different kind of magic that involved a very annoyed ancient spirit who kept killing us until Buffy chatted it into submission." he replied nonchalantly before handing Dawn the book. "Look here." he said, pointing to a paragraph below a moving illustration of a boy scribbling frantically in a book. "This isn't the first incident involving a diary." 

"In 1893, it was recorded that a young Russian wizard named Ilya Sotorov found an enchanted diary in his great-grandmother's attic. It seemed to be charmed to teach Dark Arts." Dawn read. "He withdrew from his friends and family and began communing exclusively with the paper. Soon afterwards, he developed unnatural abilities, such as the ability to perform advanced feats of Legilimacy and Apparate at the age of 11. Later, when the spirit of the diary was released and corporialized in an attempt to destroy the diary's power, the boy flew into a rage and slaughtered the town's people. The former ghost, Svetlana Popovskina, sensed Ilya's usefulness had passed, but she found herself incapable of harming the boy in anyway. They lived together in various parts of Russia together for many years before being killed by Bolshevik rebels in 1916." Dawn looked up at Giles. "So, Ginny's going to develop a taste for vodka and boiled potatoes?" she joked weakly.  

Giles pushed up quickly from the table. "We have to inform Dumbledore. He has to find a way to warn Ginny." he said as they sped out of the library. "She may be invulnerable to Voldemort's magic, but the Death Eaters can still have an effect." 

Dawn had to run to keep up with the older man. "You do know that you just jinxed it, right?" she said nervously, praying that no one on Voldemort's side had figured out the link.

So, how's that for plot development? Also, I'm toying with the idea of bringing Sirius into this crazy mix. Do you guys want him here, or is there enough angst without him? The story works with or without him, just in different ways. 

Review? Please? You've all been so good at it before. :D


	14. Closer to the Edge

Chapter 14 - Closer to the Edge 

I'm so sorry for the delay in this chapter. Long story short, I blame Microsoft and my professors, who might possibly be working for Microsoft in a complex scheme to drive my insane. I swear, one of these days, a chapter will come up and it'll make Dru look positively articulate.

So, on to my favourite part: you guys!

**Deadly Fate: **Sirius it is, then! And thank you!

**ennui**** deMorte:** That means a lot to me. I was worried about using the books to as exposition, but I hope I cleared up one of the ideas that I started out with: Ginny and Tom are connected. They can't hurt each other, and it will eventually get to the point where each begins using magick typically associated with the other's side (i.e. Ginny uses an Unforgivable and Tom uses a Light spell) I hope this isn't too saccharine...

**dawnmescher****: **You're part of a core group of reviews who took a chance on my little story and I don't think I thank you guys enough. And I'm actually doing okay with my plot? Yes! *pumps fist* 

**Amelle****:** Sorry about the wait!

**Aliesha: **You're quite welcome. Anything you guys want me to elaborate on, just ask and ye shall receive. I'm really flexible and I know that there may be jokes/ideas/references that only I understand. 

**dancetdplc****:** The Russian affair was meant to illustrate the fact that magical diaries link people. Tom and Ginny are magickally linked through the diary in COS. And it's a bit of foreshadowing to what I'm going to do with them as a couple (plus or minus the angry Communists). 

**Alyssa: **Voila! And thanks for reviewing.

**Aquarius Lovely:** Characterization is something I'm always worried about, so it's really great to here that I'm doing a good job. I watched Buffy from beginning to end (despite what it did to my will to live...) but I had a bad habit of reading Harry Potter in the wee hours of the summer mornings. If you guys see information or timelines being screwed up, let me know; it's the only way I'll learn. Well, that and extensive visits to Mugglenet.com. As for Draco, I've got the bad, silly-girl habit of thinking "You're too cute to be truly evil!", so I brought Draco over in the most original way I could think of. But thanks for your honesty. 

And now, after a long time coming, I present the next chapter in the on-going epic (ha ha) that is Chosen! *cue dramatic music* 

It was still dark when Ginny woke up. Moonlight streamed through the tall window, making it slightly easier for her tired eyes to focus in the unlit room. Slowly, she pulled herself up into a sitting position on the bed and folded her arms around her knees. The room was oddly unthreatening in the dark and as she listened, Ginny felt a tiny sense of relief that Tom was nowhere to be seen or heard. Sighing, she rested her head back against the headboard and closed her eyes, willing her head to stop throbbing. She wondered idly what she would do for clothes for the next day and decided to explore her new environment, as sleep was not feeling as forthcoming as she would have liked. 

"Lumos." she said quietly as she retrieved her wand from the nightstand and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Kicking off her shoes in annoyance, she headed over to the window and looked out on the grounds of Riddle House. A large garden sprawled beneath the window, a rainbow of bright colours even in the pale moonlight. Deep red roses sprang up from neatly kept beds along side yellow tulips, and for a minute Ginny entertained herself with visions of Tom doing his own gardening. Bare muscular back glistening with sweat and smudged with small patches of dirt, his shirtless vision looked up to her window and smiled. She smiled back and motioned with her eyes to the large hedge clippers he held in his hands. Smile never fading, Tom's outline turned to the roses and started clipping them until he held up a bursting bouquet of a dozen of the deepest reds for her. Ginny flattened her palm against the window in a gesture to take them when she looked down at the stems. Blood dripped from when they had been separated from the bush, dropping with mute splashes on Tom's bare feet. However, instead of being horrified, the blood seemed to excite Ginny. She watched with a brutal sense of satisfaction as she looked over and saw Lucius Malfoy lying dead where the rose bushes were supposed to be, a gaping bloody hole in his chest. His mouth hung loosely agape and his final expression seemed to be one of shock, as if he could not believe that Tom had moved against him. Catching Tom's eye, she smiled darkly and beckoned him up to their room. 

But then, suddenly, Ginny shook her head and the vision disappeared. The garden was empty once more and the flowers bloomed, vibrant and very much plant-like, and Lucius was nowhere to be seen. Not wanting to consider what she saw and what it meant, Ginny turned and walked over to the shelves that lined the southern wall of the room. Well-worn spine of volumes with titles such as _Demons and Their Uses, Deadliest Curses, _and _Parseltongue for the Advanced Learner_ met her gaze and she decided that, since sleep was out of her reach, she would read until she exhausted herself. She moved a large chunk of onyx from in front of _Spells for Espionage_ and entered into the bathroom, drawing herself a nice scalding bath.

For what seemed like hours, Ginny soaked and read, fascinated by spells used by spies in the Ministry of Magic's intelligence service to gain entry into some of the most warded and personnel-heavy targets in the world. She couldn't help but smile as she read the account of one operative who had infiltrated a rogue group of giants in Albania, posing as a plus-sized traveling garment salesman. Miraculously, the man had been able to avoid being immediately squashed by convincing the band that he was a half-giant who had been adopted by cruel wizards and that selling clothes was his only escape. The shirts had been rigged with powerful shrinking spells and as the dim-witted group were trying on tunics, the agent had activated the magic, swept the rebels into a bag, and carted them back to the local Mugwump for trial. 'Served them right.' Ginny thought with disdain. 'Never trust anybody.' 

However, the bathwater was getting cold and sleep was beginning to flirt with the edges of Ginny's awareness, so she climbed out of the tub and wrapped herself inside a feather-soft after-bath robe. Grabbing the book and extinguishing her wand, she emerged from the bathroom to see the sun making its way past the horizon. 'I guess it really was hours.' she thought lightly to herself as she started to replace the book. 

Suddenly, the hissing of Parseltongue met Ginny's ears and she tensed. Two sets of footsteps were making their way up to the bedroom and they sounded quick and determined. Squaring her jaw, Ginny forced herself to look nonchalant and took the book back to bed with her. Ginny checked her reflection in a nearby mirror and felt a small surge of pride as her hair curled itself seductively in the humidity. "Looking good." it said back to her as she lay down on the bed just as Tom opened the chamber door. 

"Are you awake, Virginia?" he called as he and Lucius stepped into the room. 

Ginny smiled as she looked up from her book. "For awhile now. I love mornings." she replied pleasantly as she set the volume aside and stood. "Speaking of which, good morning, love." she purred as she kissed Tom in a hungry greeting. "Sleep well? You didn't come back last night." she murmured in his ear, flicking it lightly with her tongue. 

Tom chuckled throatily. "I was securing our newest acquisition. But I see the new day agrees with you." he said, slipping a hand around Ginny's waist. "Excellent."  

Behind him, Lucius cleared his throat. "Milord, the plans?" he inquired politely, glaring at Ginny, who poked her head around Tom's arm and stuck out her tongue in retaliation. 

"What would I do without you to keep me on track, Lucius." Tom gritted as he reluctantly pulled away from Ginny and stepped over to Lucius and the waiting documents. "This is a map of Hogsmeade. We're planning an attack for tonight to confirm once and for all the reality of my return and begin the recruitment of new Death Eaters." He walked over to the bed and unfurled the dusty parchment. Ginny and Lucius obediently followed and Ginny smile smugly as she sank down beside Tom, while Lucius was forced to stand and glower. "I will be here," he said, pointing to the forest area that overlooked the village. "Overseeing the raid with a new ally, who will be joining us later, while you and Lucius lead the Death Eaters into the village proper, setting fire to businesses and shooting the Dark Mark into the sky." He looked over at Ginny, who was studying the map with a frown. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, following her gaze. 

"The Smoke Ender." she said, wistfully trailing a finger over the miniature of a building on the edge of town.

Behind her, Lucius sniffed exasperation. "Excuse me?" 

Ginny ground her teeth. "Tonight is all ages night and I want to go." 

"A club?" Lucius replied, incredulously. "Please, do tell me what that has to do with sacking the place?" 

"Nothing." Ginny replied testily. "I just want to have a drink and a dance for old time's sake before I turn it into a smoking hole in the ground."

Lucius stifled the urge to double over with laughter, allowing himself an incredulous and exasperated smile instead. "You want us to hold off one of our most important missions so that you can get sweaty and drunk? Not to mention seen by no less than 50 people? Most of them Hogwart's students!?" He turned to Tom, who was frowning contemplatively. "Surely, you won't allow this, will you milord?" he asked confidently. 

"We could pull it off, Lucius." he said slowly, eyes fixed on the map. "A simple confusion spell, combined with an anti-inebriation potion should be sufficient, if we're quick and don't make eye contact with anyone." He turned to Ginny who was grinning triumphantly. "But only if you let me choose your outfit." he said, winking at her. 

Ginny squealed. "Oh, thank you, Tom!" she cried, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I promise everything will go off perfectly!" She rained light kisses on his smiling face before turning to Lucius. "Oh, don't look so constipated, Lucius!" she teased. "I bet Drusilla would enjoy a night out, too. And you know she's crazy enough to walk in completely nude!" 

Tom chuckled. "Come now, Lucius. Show your girl a good time." he chastised gently as he ran a hand up Ginny's thigh.

Lucius opened his mouth to lay a scathing reply on Ginny, but Tom raised an eyebrow and patted his wand, so he forced himself to hold his tongue. "Of course, milord. I'll inform Drusilla at once." He turned sharply on his heel and stomped out of the room.

Ginny made a face at the retreating Death Eater and giggled when she heard a dull thump and a loud curse. "Milord! The wall, if it's not too much trouble!" came Lucius's aggravated voice from the bottom of the stairwell.

Tom sighed and reluctantly removed his hand as he rose from the bed. "Unfortunately, my dear, it appears I have other matters to attend to." He took her right hand and kissed it softly. "When you want to come down and join us in the study, simply press the emerald behind the torch bracket." With that, he turned and called jauntily to the senior Malfoy. "Patience, pet. Do you see the other benefits of learning Parseltongue now?"

"Wait!" Ginny called out. "What about my clothes?" 

Tom turned back to her and frowned. "I suppose the Death Eater's will need their sight shortly." he muttered. "Nobby!" he shouted, and instantly a house elf was at his side. "This will be your personal elf. He will be at your side at all times, attending your every desire." 

Ginny smiled down at the elf, who recoiled reflexively. "Some clothes, Nobby. Nice ones." she commanded gently. The elf's eyes widened with inspiration before he grinned and popped out of the room again. 

"Enjoy yourself, love." Tom murmured as he kissed Ginny one last time before leaving. 

Ginny simply winked at him. "See you soon." 

Tom grinned wolfishly as he released Ginny and walked over to the stairs. "Remember - I get the final say about tonight, Virginia." he warned as he left. 

Nobby appeared with a soft puff beside his new mistress and began levitating outfits in front of her for approval. "Oh yes, this will definitely take some time." Ginny murmured as she walked around the various items, plucking those that caught her eye out of the air. "Silk!" she purred excitedly as she ran a reverent hand over a black silk button-up number. "Oh, I've always wanted something of my own in silk!" Nobby said nothing beside her but continues to call for stunning outfit after stunning outfit, earning himself squeals of praise from Ginny. "Oh, Nobby! We're going to have the best time today. You haven't even brought in the shoes yet!" 

*** 

Buffy made a conscious effort that morning to haul herself out of bed before Willow, Dawn, and Giles, dressing stealthily and running through her morning make up. Easing the bathroom door open, she slipped out and was no more than 5 steps away from the door when - 

"Good luck!" 

Buffy stopped abruptly and turned to Willow's bedroom door, where the witch stood, sleepy but supportive, giving her the thumbs up. 

"Thanks."  

Buffy turned back to the tower door as Willow returned to bed and eased to out and into the main body of the school. She ran full tilt to the landing, down the stairs, down the hallway to a second landing, down still more stairs and reached the corridor of the Great Hallway in record time without even breaking a sweat. She frowned for a moment as she tried to remember which way to the infirmary was, before taking off down the hall to her right. A sharp left or two and she found herself in front of Filch's main supply closet. Groaning (but making a mental note of the location), she took off back the way she'd come until she took a sharp left and saw the large infirmary doors. She took a moment to smooth her hair down and give herself a furtive sniff ("Check and check") and then slowly pushed the heavy doors open. 

"Poppy?" she called out quietly. "Are you here?" 

"Oh, Merlin save me." 

Buffy exhaled slowly to calm herself and walked into the main bed area where she found Snape, propped up and bandaged, reading the Daily Prophet. "Oh, it looks like you're getting better." she replied sarcastically. "Damn." 

Snape didn't even look up from his paper. "What do you want Miss Summers?" he asked tiredly. 

"To be out of here as soon as possible." she shot back. "But I need your notes. Your substitute can't get into your room and, surprise surprise, she's terrified of you." Buffy put her hands on her hips. "I need the password to your office." 

"And what makes you think that I'm going to simply hand over the key to my private domain?" he countered, still not looking at her. "Especially to an obnoxious twit of an American such as yourself."

Buffy leaned in and lightly jabbed Snape's wound, causing him to yelp and curse at her. "Have you completely taken leave of your senses, woman?!" he cried, paper landing in a heap as it was thrown by the bedside. 

"You're not going anywhere for a bit and the _Ministry-approved replacement_, despite being top of her class in France, cannot teach off the top of her head." Buffy replied, making a show of obviously and loudly cracking her knuckles. "The password?" 

Snape sighed. "Lily." he murmured, eyes boring hole into the rails at end of his bed.

"I didn't know you were married." she said, quietly sitting down on the bed beside his. 

"I'm not." Snape replied, somehow aging 50 years as he spoke. "She was...from another life." His gaze became very distant and glassy and for a brief moment, Buffy wondered if she should make a serious effort to find the Mediwitch. But then, shaking his head abruptly, Snape returned to the present and glared at the Slayer. "If there's nothing else, Miss Summers, would you kindly reach my paper and get out of my sight?" 

Buffy's eyes narrowed but she complied, rising and retrieving the fallen print from its resting place on the floor. "I'm sorry for your loss." she said stiffly, before dropping the paper on Snape's lap and storming out of the infirmary. 

Phew! Well, I hope that's enough to tide people over until I can get the next chapter off whatever hard drive I've left it on. 

Please, review early and often!

Obtuse question: It takes a month to brew Polyjuice Potion, right? 

*The first reviewer to tell me where I got the Smoke Ender from gets to name to doohickey Wolfram and Hart will send later on. :D


	15. Outting

Forgiveness, please! I've actually had this chapter written for about a month, but I've had no time to post it! But the important thing is that it's up, right? Thought so.

**Amelle**: Thanks for the heads up. Damn. Now I'm going to have to find another way of changing - dammit! Can't give it away! 

**dancetdplc****:** Glad you've been liking it so far and that you like the spells idea. Just something I thought would be neat to show my apologist belief of "See! Tom's not totally evil!". 

**Aliesha:** I actually have yet to see the original movie. Disgrace, I know! Hope you like the new chapter.

**Deadly Fate:** Sirius is coming! I think I'll do another chapter leading up to everyone going to Hogsmeade at once and then bring him in. Think: Manchurian Candidate.

**pinay****-chemist****:** Yeah, I wish I had the time to go back and rewrite the beginning of the story. The first two chapters were written really quickly on a whim, so they're naturally kind of clunky. Maybe I'll make that my project in May once my semester's done.

**Innogen****: **Yay! A new face with lots of new comments! Hmmmm....Tom doesn't strike me as the type to forge an alliance that he couldn't control. At the very least, he can throw her around with Killing Curses until daylight. You're not a perv for liking Sn-uffy, and I promise that the insults will keep coming. It's so much fun to write that part! 

And now, the next chapter of "Chosen"! 

The next morning at breakfast, Hermoine, Draco, and Harry sat apart from the rest of the house, who had made it clear through their whispered conversations and nervous smiles that the Four Friends were once again looking more and more pitiful by the day. The consensus around the school was that Ginny's disappearance (the popular repressive term for what they had all seen) was beginning to unhinge the Golden Boy and his followers. Little was left of their respective sanities, and their intense bond, forged through years of trumped up confrontations, was the only thing that kept them together. After all, how many times could an adolescent claim to face the greatest evil on earth and maintain any sense of sanity?

Several times, the three Gryffindors tried to open up a conversation, say anything even if it was inane, but as soon as they met the eyes of the others, the words would die. The awkward silence that reigned between was oppressive, but none of them could find a way to break through it. 

That was, until Ron came charging up to the table, excitedly waving a piece of crumpled parchment in his hand. "Guys! Guys, wake up! I think I've found the answer!" 

Three formerly dull gazes snapped into awareness simultaneously, and each waited with cautious curiosity as Ron sat down and smoothed out the notes. 

"Sorry if it's a little damaged." he said quickly, in between shoving pieces of toast in his mouth. "I feel asleep on it in the library." 

Hermoine looked at Ron as if waiting for the Polyjuice potion to wear off and reveal who was really impersonating her friend. "You spent last night in the library?" she asked incredulously. "Who are you?" 

Ron sniffed indignantly. "I am perfectly capable of doing my own research when the need is great enough. And before you say it, NEWTs are nothing compared to what I've found." 

Draco was perched on the edge of hit seat. "What is it, Ron?" he asked excitedly. "What did you find?" 

The redhead gazed around importantly at his friends, and said simply. "The Riddle ancestral home."

Three jaws hit the table as three very excited minds tried to fully comprehend Ron's discovery. "You found the secret location of Voldemort's base?" Harry squeaked. "You've found where he's taken Ginny."

"It took me 14 hours, but I have it." Ron answered. "It's so stupid, actually. I was wasting my time looking for ancient Wizarding estates but then I remembered his father left his mother after he found out she was a witch." He smoothed the parchment out a bit more and the friends nearly crawled across the table, each trying to read it from his or her own side. "There's a whole pile of books by Muggles in the west wing of the library - apparently for the Muggle Studies types - and one of them was on prominent families of the area." He pointed to a quickly drawn circle and pointed his wand at it. "Reveal" he commanded and each of the other friends Oooh'd with appreciation as a map began to form, with the county lines and names. Finally, a large black dot formed on the parchment and labeled itself "Riddle Manor". 

Hermoine was almost lost for words. "How did you do that?" she asked incredulously. "I still don't believe you went to all this trouble!"  

Ron beamed. "It's a spell Fred and George taught me - a real one this time. I think they learned it trying to recreate the Marauder's Map." he replied, before hastening on with his ideas. "Anyway, we know where Riddle House is. Now, all we have to do is reform Dumbledore's Army, tell the Order we've found He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name's hideout and we charge in to the rescue." He sat back and folded his arms triumphantly. "Go ahead. You know you want to say it." 

"It won't work." Draco said softly, shaking his head.  

Ron's gaze crumpled instantly before reforming into a dark scowl. "What do you mean, Malfoy?" he snapped. "Of course it'll work. Alright, it has a few variables that need taking care of but this is a major step. At least admit that." 

Draco looked up seriously. "Of course finding the house is a major step, but your strategy will get us all killed."

"What do you mean, Dray?" Harry asked. He wanted to believe that it was as simple as Ron made it out to be but his instincts told him Draco was seeing something they couldn't. 

Draco stared at the circle representing 'Riddle House'. "It's all well and good to know where the house is, but we have to come up with a better strategy than 'charge!'" he argued. "My father said once, after Voldemort got his powers back, that he performed an incredibly powerful spell to connect the house to himself, to make it under the direct control of his will." Draco took a shaky breath. "If we attack the house, it could turn against us. Doors sealing themselves, windows becoming unbreakable, objects flying at us from all sides. And this would be on top of Death Eaters trying to kill us."

"We'd be like fish in a barrel." Hermoine whispered quietly. 

"And you believe that sonofabitch?" Ron growled angrily. "For all you know, he was just bragging to impress his precious master." 

Draco met the redhead's fiery gaze with a look of pure fury. "I know my father, Weasle." he ground out. "He wasn't lying. In fact, he was terrified of what it could mean if Voldemort ever lost his temper during an in-house meeting." He folded his arms and leaned forward, gaze never wavering. "And besides, there are anti-intrusion wards around our manor that even He would have trouble breaking, so there's not a chance that he was saying it to prove his loyalty." 

Hermoine looked anxiously between the two boys and cleared her throat. "So, we need to revise our strategy a little bit." she said, putting a calming hand on Ron's arm, causing him to stiffen and glare at her. "But this is still an incredible breakthrough. I have to say, Ron, I'm really impressed."

Ron's look softened a bit. "You really think so?" he asked gruffly. 

Hermoine nodded. "I almost hate to say it, but you've almost out done me here." she teased. "But we still need to talk about strategy. Do you have any ideas?" 

Harry smiled softly as Ron's anger seemed to completely melt away under Hermoine's sunny praise and leaned over to whisper to Draco, "Looks like we're not the only ones." 

"Not the only what?" he said aloud, causing Ron and Hermoine and stop their discussion and look at him quizzically. 

Harry groaned inwardly. "You're not the only one who forgot his books back in the Common room, silly." he said, smiling tightly at Draco, who began to understand. 

"You know, you're right!" he said, getting up hastily from the table. "You two review ambush tactics and Harry and I will see you in class." The two boys smiled quickly at Ron and Hermoine before rushing away from the table and out the Great Hall doors. 

"You really need to learn how to be subtle." Harry teased as he rounded the corner to the Closet. "You almost let them catch on." 

Draco laughed as he followed Harry into the dark. "Oh come, on. You know they won't be paying attention to anything but each other for a good long time now. Good eye, though."

Harry grinned as he pulled Draco to him. "I know..." he murmured before leaning in to passionately kiss his lovers.

Draco moaned and leaned back against a wall as Harry moved to kiss the sensitive flesh behind his ear. "Oh Merlin, love." he said. "Where did you get a tongue like that?" 

Harry chuckled but gave no articulate reply. Instead, he parted the front of Draco's robes and snuck a hand underneath the crisp white shirt. Questing hands found their tiny, pebbled targets and began pinching them ever so gently, causing Draco to pant Harry's name and Harry to revel in the erotic jolt it sent down his spine. "Oh, Harry. Harry, do that again." the blonde moaned, squirming slightly against the wall and nearly yelping as Harry's other hand, a slightly colder one, found Draco's other nipple. "Yes." he hissed. "Just like that." 

"Think you can handle more?" Harry teased from Draco's neck, punctuating the challenge with a hard tug on his earlobe with his teeth.  

"Oh, that is it, Potter." Draco growled, forcefully removing his lover's body from on top of his. "You're going down." Before Harry had time to react, Draco thrust him out, spun him around, and pinned against the door, which groaned in protest. 

"Draco" Harry whispered reverently as the other boy's hands past his robes and to the waistband of his trousers. A harsh zip, followed by a snagging sound, a growl, and a loud rrrip was all Harry's brain could process before a rush of cool air hit him, but was soon replaced by the liquid heat of Draco's mouth and tongue. The sudden and almost rough taking almost sent Harry over the edge right there and he banged his head quite soundly on the wall in an attempt to fight the rush. "Oh Draco." he moaned. 

Quiet laughter floated into Harry's ears. "What's so funny?" he asked. 

"Nothing. I just love it when you moan my name." Draco answered. "Makes me feel so h-"

Suddenly, Draco's husky praise was cut off by the worst possible thing that could've occurred at that point. The door finally sagged under Harry's weight and the two clandestine lovers landed with a thud on the castle floor.

"Uh...I think I found them!" a boy's voice called out as Harry and Draco groaned and tried to sit up.

"Oh shit!" Harry yelped as he scrambled to collect his pants and jump to his feet. Draco was ahead of him and staring in horror at the shocked faces in front of him. Time seemed to stop for the two discovered lovers waited for the rest of the school to screech to a halt in front of them. One by one, teachers and students alike formed a crowd in front of the two boys, who watched with horror as the mob got bigger and bigger. 

Finally, Michael Corner broke the uncomfortable silence. "Alright! Who's the lucky sod who had today?" A ripple of relieved laughter went through the crowd as each person searched his or her pockets for a copy of the betting form. 

"George Weasley!" someone called out, to a chorus of groans and protests. 

"It shouldn't count. He's not even a student here anymore!" Another voice cried, to murmurs of assent. 

Michael shook his head. "There's nothing in the rules that prohibits former students from collecting." he said. "Hey, Ron! Get an owl to your brother, would you?" 

"Oh no." Harry groaned. "Ron." 

The aforementioned Weasley pushed his way through the crowds, a worried Hermoine following closely. "Alright, come on! Let a man through!" he grunted as he pushed past two Ravenclaw girls to stand directly in front of his two friends. "Harry James Potter." he began indignantly. "Why -" 

"Wait, Ron. You don't have to say anything. I understand." he interrupted, holding up a hand. "All I ask is that you let Hermoine continue to associate with me, if she so chooses." 

"What are you talking about, mate?" he asked, incredulously, eyes studiously avoiding anything below Harry's chest level.

Draco defensively stepped in front of Harry. "Oh, come off it, Weasle." he shouted. "If you're going to hate him for being who he is, then just say it already. Don't insult him by calling him your 'mate'." he spat. 

Hermoine stepped in between the two boys for the second time that day. "You mean you didn't know?" she asked, stepping protectively in front of Ron. 

"Oh, I know alright." he snapped. "I know that he's a bigot who can't stand to be around his own best friend just because he's gay." He folded his arms. "You make me sick, Weasle." he spat. 

"What the hell are you talking about, Ferret Boy?" Ron shouted. "I would never ditch my best friend, even if he is with a git like you." 

Harry eyed him curiously. "But what about -" he began. "I mean, why did it sound like you wanted to kill me?" he asked, eying Ron wearily.

"I was joking, mate!" Ron exclaimed, stepping around to Hermoine's side. "I had my money on tomorrow, and I was going to joke with you about waiting just one more day to make your old friend some money." He looked at Harry's growing confusion. "What else would I possibly be mad at you for? I don't care who you shag - you're my best friend." 

"Oh." Harry replied slowly, still trying to reconcile the image of a disgusted, angry Ron with the friendly if perplexed Ron before him.  

"Alright, you accept that he's gay." Draco cut in. "But what's going on with money?" 

Hermoine cleared her throat and glared at Seamus Finnegan, who was grinning like an idiot at the edge of the crowd. "_Somebody_ thought it would be a lark to place bets on when the two of you were going to start expressing the chemistry you two have in a more romantic way than hallway duels." She turned back to her friends, blushing. "The Galleons have been piling up since third year." she admitted quietly. 

Draco and Harry were shocked. "Four years!" Harry exclaimed. "You've all known for four years and no one thought to tell me about this ridiculous game?" 

Neville stepped up. "Think about it, Harry." he cautioned. "What would you have done to us?"

Parvati stepped up behind him. "I mean, you hated him, and sometimes rightly so, but there was always a sort of fire in your eyes whenever he walked in the room or someone mentioned his name." 

"Yeah." Lavender chorused. "It was like he was the only one who could ever get a reaction out of you."

A general murmur of agreement passed through the crowd, making Harry blush an incredible shade of red before paling. "Oh God. Cho." he groaned. 

The petite Ravenclaw Seeker took that as her cue to come to the forefront of the throng. "It's okay Harry." she said patronizingly. "Actually, it helps a lot. And here I was, thinking it was me!" She walked up to the Boy Who Was Incredibly Confused and hugged him quickly. "We can still be friends, right?" she asked as she pulled away. 

"Uh...sure, I guess." Harry said.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Dumbledore appeared, with McGonagall, Buffy, and Willow at his sides. "Well, it seems one of the most famous rivalries in Hogwart's history has finally come to an end." he said cheerfully. "But, while this is a momentous occasion, I would like to remind you that tonight's visit to Hogsmeade would be a more appropriate time to celebrate. To class, everyone!"  

As the rest of the students reluctantly filed away towards their first period, Harry and Draco stood rooted to the spot, the reality of what had just happened only beginning to sink in. Finally, after the hallway was clear, Draco turned to Harry. "So, it was my name, wasn't it? That was what got Ron so upset." he said casually, trying to hide his smug tone. 

Harry blushed a deep scarlet and grinned at the other boy. "Yeah. And wipe that grin off your face, right now!" 

"Oh, I don't think so, lover." Draco replied, dodging Harry's swat. "This is going to be quite popular with me for quite some time." 

"That's it - you've gone evil again." Harry muttered as he began to walk briskly up to Gryffindor tower to retrieve his bags and a decent set of trousers. 

Draco and his smirk followed closely behind. "Yes, but I'm only evil for you." he said, caressing Harry's behind. "Because you know you like me bad." 

Harry grinned but kept going up the stairs. "Damn straight." he said over his shoulder. 

"Not likely." Draco quipped. "Now, come on. We've got our first class as a couple to attend, and I want to see the reaction when we walk in holding hands." 

"Attention queen." Harry teased. "Now, come on or we won't make it on time."

Draco beamed. "Why be on time when we can be fab-ulously late?"

A/N (since people don't seem to see them when they're up top): For those of you who really want the Sn-uffy, please be patient! It's an unfolding process and I don't think it would be natural to just have them just jump on each other all of a sudden. What I'm aiming for here is a slow realization (slower on Snape's part) that they could have a good thing together if they would just get over their mutual stand-offishness. The Hogsmeade visit will help to wake them up to each other's strengths as fighters and go a long way to forging a sort of peace which will eventually turn into something a little friendlier and then....

Well, that being said, reviews make my day!


	16. Before the Storm

Oh, wow. I didn't realize that it had been checks over a year since I updated. I hope everyone is still with me!

But a note on why this took so long.

I was originally using this story as a way to get out some issues with a guy I used to know, with whom I had a Ginny-Tom-like interaction. Over the course the months following the last update, events conspired to make me realize he's more like Draco: big mouth, but easily over-powered. So, I lost interest in the story for awhile, thinking it was a relic of a problem I no longer had. I also started university this year, which has deadlines that don't allow me the time to write fanfic when I frustrated with an essay or assignment like I could when I was in community college.

But, I'm out for the summer break now, and I've decided that I like writing, even if my issues are null and void and I don't always have complete faith in my ability to pull off my grand scheme of a plot. So, it's time for me to kick up my feet and answer those reviews!

**AlienSmile13:** I didn't find out until after I stopped updating that it was Ginerva and I don't know if I should change it. Canon Correctness vs. it-just-sounds-prettier-to-me. Decisions, decisions.

**Maleficus**** Lupinus: **Kinkafication comin' right up!

**Cow as White as Milk:** Thanks! I had been playing through my Les Mis sheet music and that song just stuck in my head and made me love it.

**Vixen: **That means a lot to me. I know I'm taking more than a few liberties with Tom Riddle's character, but I think it's worth it with his interactions with Ginny and his ultimate road to redemption, if that's possible for him.

**Amelle** Me? Do whatever I can for shameless D/H smut? Surely you jest! (Heh.)

**Aliesha:** 2,000 cool points to Aliesha for the LOTR slash-liking.

**Innogen** If being a perv is wrong, I don't want to be right. I hope in the intervening months you've had time to catch up on the actual Harry Potter canon. As for Harry's calmness about the broom closet thing, I think at this point in his life, being caught snogging is relatively low on the things that would shock him list. Catching McGonagall and Dumbledore snogging is another matter...

**the-almighty-berriy:** Yeah, sorry about that. I'm still looking for a beta, but I was thinking the fact that Willow spent a lot of time in magical Britain would be fun to play with.

Ginny hummed quietly to herself as she stood in front of a large mirror in the bedchamber, attaching the last silver clips to her dark red tresses. She noted, with mild curiosity, that her hair had darkened since her arrival at Riddle House and now, instead of resembling the ugly rust colour she had always complained about, it had taken on a bloodlike tinge.

Behind her, on the enormous canopy bed, lay Tom's choice for the evening: a tight black dragon's hide corset, and a flowing black velour skirt that stopped mid-length down her thigh. For accessories, Tom had given her platinum hoop earrings shaped like snakes that had emeralds for eyes and a black choker with a serpent weaving its way around the band. Both items sprang to life, hissing and writhing, when Parsletongue was spoken to them.

"Nobby." Ginny called over her shoulder as she shimmed into the skirt. "Let's get me dressed." The house elf nodded quickly and the corset floated gently over Ginny's head and slid down her up-stretched arms to fit snugly around her waist. A soft snap of Nobby's spindly fingers had the strings tying themselves, tightly binding Ginny and stretching her until her already tiny waist even tinier and her breasts jutted out provocatively from the top of the garment. Satisfied with the appealing shape the constrictive clothes had created, she jerked her head to the small vanity that had been set up earlier in the day and sat down in front of the mirror. At Nobby's bidding, they attached themselves to her ears and throat, completing the effect that Tom had predicted: a gorgeous dark Pureblood, ready to instil fear and obedience in all who saw her.

"Well, aren't we a vision." Lucius sneered from the doorway.

Ginny's smile snapped into a thin red line. "What are you doing here, Lucius?" she demanded impatiently. "Where's Tom?"

If he was offended by her familiarity with his master, it didn't show. "He's finalizing our agreement with our latest ally in the library." he replied smoothly, lips set into a polite smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I've been sent up to accompany you to welcome him."

"Delivering messages like a common owl." Ginny smirked. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Tell me, _Lucy_, did you lick his boots, too, or just his - "

"Filthy little wretch!" Lucius growled. "You will watch you mouth around your betters!"

Ginny laughed cruelly. "Temper, temper. I wouldn't want to have to report your insolence."

Lucius stormed across the few feet separating them and grabbed Ginny's arm, yanking her close to him until she could feel his hot breath on her face. "You will show me the respect my place deserves! I was at his side before you were born and will continue to be at his right hand long after you have served you purpose here!" He held her gaze for a second longer before suddenly releasing his grip and sliding his mask of frosty civility back into place. "Now, if you'll follow me." he said tightly, the edges of his eyes maintaining the only traces of his rage.

"Leave, and wait outside the door.", was all Ginny could grind out, rubbing her sore wrist. "Now."

Lucius pursed his lips but obeyed. Ginny watched his retreat with a chaotic mix of fear, loathing, and haughtiness. 'If he thinks I have any intention of letting him be anything other than Drusilla's playmate, he's dead wrong.' she thought savagely.

Then, came the unbidden thought: 'Because I have no chance of finding out why I'm really here as long as he lives...' Shaking her head angrily to clear her mind, Ginny whirled around to face Nobby, who had taken refuge under the vanity during the argument. "I'm not forgetting anything, am I?" she asked impatiently. Scurrying out quickly, Nobby pointed to Ginny's wand, which had lain stupidly out of reach during the altercation. She grabbed it with a huff and started towards the stairs. "He'll pay for what he's done." she muttered to herself. "We'll see who's by his side by the end of the night."

The Gryffindor common room was buzzing with excitement as the older members of the house prepared for a rare night time visit to Hogsmeade. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine sat quietly to the side, trying not to attract anymore attention to themselves. For most of the day, students had gone from barely concealed staring to quiet giggling to outright applause when Harry and or Draco walked into a room. The whole thing, after the shock wore off, was beginning to wear on Harry's nerves, almost eclipsing his relief at being able to openly share his affection with Draco. That was, however, until the aforementioned Malfoy came down the stairs from the boys' dorm rooms to the common room. Even amidst the riotous clapping and catcalling, the only thing Harry's senses registered was his lover.

"Good evening." Draco said theatrically, as he bent to kiss Harry's hand.

"Knock it off." He mumbled, blushing and grinning as he pulled away. But Draco seemed to be adjusting far better than Harry, to the point of seeking more attention. "But, my sweet, it's time to depart." He leaned in and kissed Harry on the cheek, adding, sotto voce, "I can't wait to show you the Smokender."

"The what?" Harry questioned, but Draco held up a finger.

"Not now, dearest." he said, taking Harry's arm in his. "For now, we take a romantic walk, under the moonlight!"

Hermoine sighed. "I'm still not sure we should be taking this break. We're still quite far off from finding a way into Riddle House undetected." she said, looking reproachfully at the large stack of books she and Ron had carted back from the library as if they were purposely concealing the key element of Ron's plan.

Ron rolled his eyes. "If you say one more word about those bloody books, I'm going to have to start shoving balled up parchment in my ears." He pushed himself up from the cozy fire-front chair and cocked his head toward the door. "Do you think we can make it out on our own or should I set off a round of Fred and George's fireworks to distract the mob?"

Draco laughed. "Who cares? They're going to be following us all night anyway, so why don't we just get used to them?"

The other Gryffindors heaved rolled their eyes and started out into the night, the newly formed Potter-Malfoy fan club trailing faithfully behind.

So, what did you think? Reviews are like crack to me!


	17. Exits and Entrances

Oh, Chosen, I wish I knew how to quit you!

Thank you to everyone who has prodded me with random reviews long after I figured this story had faded into the archives.

**Aliesha: **Here you are, if you are there: more Snuffy

**Pussykat8:** Why, thank you.

**jw** Here you go!

**Lily Tanzer:** Well, if you insist, I'll keep this up.

**Tiffany:** It really warms me to hear that I've made someone see the beauty of my ships. Thank you for having faith in my Snape.

**FirePrincessofSlytherin17:** I've changed it in this chapter. When I started writing this all those years ago, I didn't know what her name was. I'll go back and change the rest later. But I'm glad you like the character, whatever her name is.

Buffy nervously tucked her hair behind her ear as she surveyed the hundreds of students she was supposed to be escorting to Hogsmeade. Every so often, she would look down on a student from her perch at the top of the stairs and would wave, but the student almost always gave her a confused look before going back to his or her conversation.

'Okay, this is going to be...a challenge.' she said to herself. 'I can only guard the rear and they haven't sent any other teachers to flank and protect the front. They're just kids – how are they going to defend themselves if we get ambushed?

Suddenly, she as aware of someone standing behind her. "They're really not, you know."

Buffy whirled around. "Hey!" she said, startled. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to spy on your fellow faculty members' thoughts?"

Snape's thin lips twitched upwards. "I read lips as well as minds, Ms. Summers."

"Oh," she replied. "Uh, but aren't you still supposed to be in the infirmary? I happen to know from experience that it's not good to be walking around with a hole in your stomach."

"You severely underestimate my constitution." he said, as he walked over to stand beside her at the railing. "But as I was saying, these are not mere children. For the most part, yes, many of them couldn't find their way out of a classroom without the directional jostling of the herd but there are the occasional exceptional talents. Mr. Malfoy, for example," he gestured with his hand to the blond boy who was holding court in the middle of the mob, "has a gift for subterfuge that will allow him to survive in any situation. Time will tell whether that was purely his father's influence. And it is rumoured that Ms. Brown is hiding an excellent patronus underneath the metric ton of paint that seems to have collided with her face."

Buffy turned to face the older man. "And you are apparently hiding a charitable streak underneath all that black." she teased. She shot her hand out to test his wound, but found her hand incapable of moving more than 2 inches closer to his body. She looked up, her playful look meeting with his smug one.

"All those with permission, line up in front of me!" Filch yelled suddenly. The professor and the Slayer both blinked and seemed to return to themselves and the present time. Snape's face slide once again into the mask of barely concealed disgust as he turned sharply away from Buffy and marched down the stairs.

"10 points from Gryffindor, Mr. Finnigan. That is most definitely not the proper use of a stirring rod!"

Ginny stalked ahead of Lucius as they made their way down the hallway to the library. Although she had yet to form a workable plan for revenge, she knew she had better start soon to impress upon the man just who was in favour and who was not. As she walked through the open door, she turned around without warning. "I think you should wait out here." she said haughtily. "This meeting is for members of the inner sanctum, not playthings."

However, Lucius merely grunted as he brushed past her, trying to knock her shoulder as he did only to meet a rock of tense Slayer muscle. Scowling, he cracked his neck and waited for her to enter before sliding inside behind her.

Two chairs had been set up by the fireplace and Ginny recognized Tom's voice instantly as he spoke amiably with the new ally. "I see we have an understanding." he said pleasantly. "Feel free to maim and kill whomever you wish, but your first target is to be the werewolf."

The other man nodded but said nothing.

Tom sighed. "I do wish they'd made you more talkative." he muttered as he rose to greet Ginny and Lucius, who had stopped at respectable distances from where Tom was sitting. "Ah, you're here at last." he said, gliding over to Ginny to place a small kiss on her lips. "Ginerva, I'd like you to meet Luc Bakirsis, our latest ally."

Ginny smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Bakirsis." she said politely. "I'm sure you'll – "

"Does she always talk this much, milord?" the man growled as he rose from his chair. "It's bound to get on a man's nerves."

All the air had rushed out of the room. Gone was the wild, dirty hair created by years of sleeping in the earth, the frantic eyes trained by years of running, the over-done, ill-fitting robes that had been grudgingly hung on his body but never worn.

Before her stood an immaculate, clean cut, and very much alive Sirius Black.

Short, I know, but worth it. Please give generously to the Review button!


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